Why read nonfiction books

Challenge yourself to read one non-fiction book and go into it with eyes wide open. You might be surprised at how satisfying it can be. Here are a few nonfiction titles that I have personally read and loved.

This was very hard to narrow down and is in no particular order. Edsel, Bret Witter. Elizabeth Street by Laurie Fabiano. Patient H. Dawn can be found at the adult circulation desk and has been an avid reader her whole life. She enjoys historical fiction and nonfiction works, but will read just about anything. Badaracco told HBR IdeaCast in that fiction provides an opportunity to complicate standard good versus evil tropes.

Good literature presents characters with competing and often equally valid viewpoints. Business books, by their very nature, boil down issues until they are binary: this is right and that is not.

For instance, those seeking robust discussion about community connection might read Kindred by Octavia Butler, a science fiction novel that addresses the ways in which race shapes individual experience.

The point of reading in this way is to develop cognitive agility and acuity. They also produce fewer individual hypotheses about alternative explanations, which makes them more confident in their own initial and potentially flawed beliefs. A high need for cognitive closure also means individuals gravitate toward smaller bits of information and fewer viewpoints. Individuals who resist the need for cognitive closure tend to be more thoughtful, more creative, and more comfortable with competing narratives—all characteristics of high EQ.

University of Toronto researchers discovered that individuals in their study who read short stories as opposed to essays demonstrated a lower need for cognitive closure. That result is not surprising given that reading literature requires us to slow down, take in volumes of information, and then change our minds as we read. We can have conversations that might not happen in any other context, at least not with the same level of honesty.

Investing in Reading CEOs may be reluctant to invest the kind of time, money, and energy facilitated literary reading and discussion requires, but initial reports suggest that instructor-led literature groups are useful. Riley invited Books Work to work with up to 20 participants at a time over several sessions. Vocabulary knowledge is key to comprehending text and academic success. Non-fiction children's literature naturally integrates complicated vocabulary words in ways that make it easy for students to learn new words.

Aids second language learners. With realistic pictures and locally contextualiz ed content, students learning to read in a second language can connect familiar images with words from the new language. Offers solutions to real-world problems.

Many students in Tanzania and other countries we work in struggle daily with hunger, child labor, or staying in school. Non-fiction books provide children with information , new perspectives, and life skills that can be used to address challenges in their lives. Teaches children more about the world they live in.

For nearly two decades, Room to Read ha s published culturally-relevant books that specifically in clude characters, settings, and lifestyle details children see regularly. But non-fiction books allow children to further expand their horizons beyond the familiar. Finally, not all children find their way to reading through fiction. Children's n on-fiction books can motivate reluctant readers by capitalizing o n their curiosity and interest in the world around them.

They also trained local designers and illustrators on how to make non-fiction more visually enticing. The Zanzibar government requested more cultural ly specific and island-created materials, as most often they receive books developed with a mainland focus. All Tusome Pamoja project books have both mainland and Zanzibar editions. Most importantly, the project emphasized the importance of collaboration during creation.