Close to 689 million units of print books sold in 2019 in the USA alone. Moreover, more than 33.5 million e-books were sold in the USA in the same period. Audiobook trends suggest that it is slowly booming too. In 2019, the sales of Audiobooks generated $1.2 billion in the USA.

With all of these, the reading landscape is changing. There are more books than you can imagine. From Fiction- Children Fiction, Sci-Fi, YA, to even non-fiction, the bookshelves are bright with books. But do you not read still?

Well, if you haven't gotten to reading yet, here are some points that might encourage to get on to this bandwagon of reading:

Helps you sharpen your brain:

Just the way we hit the gym for our physical workouts, reading acts as a mental workout. The brain is a muscle like the other parts of the body. Any amount of work out only improves strength. As they say with muscles, “use it or lose it”. If you put your brain to less use, it would slow down. Hence, reading also helps you prevent or slow down diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Other improvements relate to critical & analytical skills, Memory, and concentration.

Enhances Imagination:

We can remember the visuals better compared to words. We tend to imagine what we read; Words create visuals in our minds. This stimulates the part of the brain that houses imagination. Let’s say you are reading a novel; the story has a bank robbery scene, chances are high that those weren’t just the words, you visualized the bank robbery scene in front of your eyes as you read the words that described it.

Improves your writing skills:

Believe it or not! Reading does improve your writing skills. Every writer has a different style of writing, and when you read books, various styles of writing get registered in your brain. Now, the next time you want to pen down something, the words would flow in a hybridized style of all the different types of books you have read until then. Don’t believe it! Check out my first article here and compare the style of writing. [Note: I’m still a novice at both reading and writing though]. But you can’t help it! You will get better in the way you express your feelings through words.

Helps you get the juice of other person's life experiences:

Well, this is the biggest benefit of reading, especially with Non-fiction books. Books are the best medium to learn the experiences of millions of people who have already walked the path that you are embarking on. Reading their stories, their struggles, the mistakes they made, the lessons from their life would help you be wiser and avoid the same mistakes made by them, thereby shortening your journey of success.

So, the next time you are facing a hardship professionally, in your business, or your personal life, know that you are not alone. There is a book on almost everything, including the book on ‘Future of almost everything’. Go to a bookstore, pick up a book, immerse yourself in that, and you will certainly find a solution to your problems. Thousands or even millions of Entrepreneurs and people have done the same. Imagine having any successful person, let’s say Mr. Bill Gates by your side sharing the experiences of his life. A book written by them is no less than that. If you can read a book like you are talking to the Author, there cannot be anything better than that. Best wishes for your future meetings with the people you adore.

Increases your Knowledge:

Let’s say you are into the field of Sales and you pick up ‘How to sell anything to anybody’ by Joe Girard or ‘Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the sale’ by Zig Ziglar, these books would enhance your knowledge; help you better deal with people, and close better Sales. Information shared in those books became useful for your life and career. Now, there are literally thousands of books written on every aspect from business, life, management, to even Spirituality. What would happen if you get your hands on many more books?

Someone as successful as Mr.Bill Gates, even today reads around 50 books a year, averaging one every week. Mr. Warren Buffet, known as the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ for his brilliance in investment decisions, read a whopping 500-1000 pages per day when he started his career in investing and even today devotes 80% of his time in a day for reading. Need more examples?

If you have been a non-reader like how I had been, don’t feel intimidated by those numbers. Take it step-by-step. If you are in the age-group of 14-28, you can start with Life Simplified! by Mr. Sujit Lalwani, a book for non-readers.

Your conversations will improve:

Oh Yes! When you start reading about diverse topics, you will develop a sense of clarity and enhancement in your perspectives. Your conversations would get better and more people would reckon you for any advice. It is no secret that we don’t like to communicate with people who lead a boring routine life and have the same boring conversations every time. Reading will make you sound interesting among the circle of people you are with.

Upgrades your Vocabulary & Communication Skills:

It does! I don’t mean to say that just after you start reading, you would start using words like “Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies being broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalist”, how Mr. Shashi Tharoor, a popular Indian politician does. Want it or not, it does get the audience busy in Google search of those words. But reading will certainly ameliorate your vocabulary if you aren't a native English speaker. Well, do you know the meaning of ‘Ameliorate’?

No!

Not a problem! Always consider Google as your friend for any such queries.

Helps you sleep better:

There have been several studies that associate reading with better sleep. A good read just before going to bed can relax your body and mind and will help you get better sleep. But make sure to choose a book that is soothing to the mind. While you might love reading action-thriller type of content just before sleep, do it at your own risk. You don’t want to be executing those action sequences in your sleep and scare the hell of the people around you.

Experience Inner Peace:

Reading books has been associated with inner peace in addition to the reduction of stress levels. If you are reading a book that is helping you calm down, and feel peaceful, go for it. Such books lower your blood-pressure and lighten your mood.

Understand your life better:

You are dealing with challenges in your life; and as per the suggestion above, you have picked a book that you felt would be helpful. Let’s say you picked up ‘Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff’ by Mr. Richard Carlson; ‘The Power of Subconscious Mind’ by Mr. Joseph Murphy; ‘Becoming Supernatural’ by Mr. Joe Dispenza, ‘Business at the speed of thought’ by Mr. Bill Gates, The Lean Startup’ by Eric Ries- the lessons shared in the book would help you understand the events and situations in your life or your business better; and help you deal with them better. Be it any part of the journey of your life or business, you will find a solution in books.

What are Book Summaries? Why Blinkist?

Book Summaries- it is self-explanatory. In short, they are summaries of the books either in Audio or written format. Blinkist is one of the best apps if you want to read or listen to the summaries of the thousands of non-fiction books from more than 27 categories. Through its high-quality summaries, it has been successful in getting 16 million people to listen to or read the book summaries from their platform. It provides you a complete summary of the book which only takes 15-minutes to complete.

If you are a non-fiction lover, Blinkist should be your abode.

Benefits of Book Summaries:

Saves Time:

Book Summaries on Blinkist removes all the fluff and gets directly to the point of what the message of the book is. This helps you save the time of having to read the complete book to figure out the message.

Acts like a Trial of the book:

Do you want to decide whether you want to read a book? Summaries on Blinkist acts as a trial of the book that can help you decide if you want to go for a complete reading of the book.

Introduces you to many more books:

Blinkist has a huge library of more than 3000 'Blinks' (Book summaries as they call it) and is growing at the rate of 30 new titles every month.

Helps a non-reader:

Are you a non-reader? The book summaries on Blinkist would help in building interest in reading more books and eventually turn you into a reader.

You can read/listen on the move:

The book summaries are available both in audio and written formats (Blinkist has 85% of them as audio version). These audios can be listened to when you are on the move.

Makes you a store-house of knowledge:

15-minutes is all you would take complete a summary of a book on Blinkist. You can complete multiple blinks in a single day. Imagine the feeling of having read 5 books in a week, with Blinkist that is possible.

Some inspiring quotes on reading that will inspire you to read:

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller

"So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place, you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall." – Roald Dahl

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.” – Louis L’Amour

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." – Walt Disney

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” – Carl Sagan

Conclusion:

If these quotes and points shared above don’t inspire you to start reading, I ain’t sure what will. Reading has a multitude of other benefits that can be only experienced. If you lead a hectic life and feel that you have no time to read a book, Blinkist has come to your rescue. What are you waiting for? Download Blinkist here and get started with it!


If you feel that I have missed any point, do let me know in the comments below. Wishing you a great reading life ahead!