From the time we are little, books introduce us to worlds beyond our own. We learn about the animal kingdom, the universe, and faraway places, while fairytales open the door to our imagination. Compared to visual forms of entertainment, reading allows us to create our own images in our minds, drawing from all the things we’ve previously heard or seen, even our own past. We begin to connect what we read with our own experiences, while also learning to understand the experiences of others.
Over time, we develop particular interests and preferences, finding ourselves drawn to certain kinds of writing more than others. Sometimes a poem or a lyric speaks to us, at other times, it might be the characters or the plot of a novel. Whatever we read, we are always learning something from it.
Continue reading the essay here: The Comfort We Find in Books
