Reading books, encompassing both fiction and non-fiction, is crucial for cognitive enhancement, emotional development, and overall well-being, offering a unique pathway to deeper understanding and personal freedom that digital media cannot fully replicate.
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Actually, no one reads a book's itself,
but read themselves through the books.
If you were stuck between these two, which one would you choose?
I neither have shown you the name of the book yet, nor what's in this tablet.
But I can still guess what the answer will be.
Then let me turn them around and show you what they are.
This is The Plague by Albert Camus,
and so is this one.
Actually, they are the same thing, I just opened this book from the tablet as well.
Look, I'm not going to tell you cliché things like tablets are bad, books improve you like this,
leave the tablet aside and read a book.
Because I think both are necessary.
But when both are used casually, they may not mean much.
Sometimes there are such people that you can hardly see any books in their hands!
But they are extremely intelligent and knowledgeable.
Sometimes there are people who read all the time
but do not stand out with their intelligence and knowledge.
This confusion may make you think that reading books is not so essential,
but the truth is not like that, my dear friends.
Today, I will tell you why reading books is very, very important,
in the light of the latest scientific research.
If you're ready, sit back, relax and listen.
There are many types of slavery and freedom.
Reading is the path from slavery to freedom.
This is a book, we rather call it an encyclopedia.
This is a book, this is a novel, and we call this fiction.
This is non-fiction, this is fiction.
So the book is not actually a single thing.
There are books and there are books…
This can teach me what is happening when I look at the sky,
it can show me the secret of water.
How molecules are formed, what surface tension is…
This might leave me alone in the middle of the desert and dream of crossing oceans.
From a very simple perspective,
it seems like these fictional things shouldn't add much to us.
After all, the information is in the encyclopedia!
But they both have their own contribution to here.
First of all, we need to reach this distinction.
So If you say, "Well, reading a novel is unnecessary, what will you learn from it?", then you are wrong.
Because research shows the opposite.
Books are not only for learning,
but also for not forgetting.
A study reveals that
the left hemisphere of the brains of those who read before bed was more active
when they woke up the next morning.
This part of the brain plays a key role in helping us remember the meanings of words.
That's why reading books is
a great way to fight against some diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Although it is not well known, this disease is unfortunately one of the leading causes of death.
So, we should not just say “I will learn what I will learn by watching videos.”
Then one day in the future you may forget it all.
You have to turn those dusty pages once in a while.
The secret is to consume some of that dust.
So books are not just for learning.
It's for fun, it's for excitement.
It is for dreaming…
There is a magic in being surrounded by books!
First of all, human mind and intelligence are no longer an ordinary concept as we once thought.
In fact, that's why we started to have difficulty measuring it.
IQ is no longer respected as much as it used to be.
Other types of intelligence are mentioned.
For example, EQ as well as IQ.
Emotional intelligence and multiple intelligence theory are being mentioned.
So, if when you think of intelligence, the only thing that comes to your mind is Einstein or some physicists like Hawking,
first of all, I think we need to get rid of this idea.
For example, Mozart was also a genius.
Shakespeare too…
Dostoevsky… Freud…
Being human is not just about being good at math and science.
Being human means being able to understand human values.
Reading a novel may not tell you the secret of interactions between atoms.
But it can explain what it means to be a good person.
That's why this novel is not just a story.
It is also a narrative of human values, human rights and freedoms.
You cannot do that science in a society that does not understand this.
You can't be Einstein either.
Do you think it's a coincidence that Einstein escaped from the war and everything and
devoted a significant part of his life to human rights?
It requires wisdom to be able to tell all this with a seemingly ordinary life story.
That's why, in order to understand why some authors are so important, we need to read them first.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies...
Books fill the gaps.
We have long known that some parts of the brain are more active during certain actions.
In a study, researchers monitored the brain activity of volunteers on an FMRI imaging device.
They told them some words and watched their brain activity on the screen.
For example, they showed words such as “a dark blue carpet” or “a pencil with black lines”.
When they did this, it was observed that the activity of the volunteers' hippocampus increased.
That is, the part responsible for learning and memory.
But not only that.
Compared to seeing, reading also brings out the imagination.
Because In a video, we do not directly see what is thought, as in a movie.
This is one of the differences between a screenwriter and an author.
The author writes by considering how you can complete some things with your imagination,
leaves gaps, and draws pictures with words.
Our minds try to fill these gaps.
The picture drawn with those words is like a sketch made with dots.
There are gaps in between and our minds try to fill these gaps.
Black lined pen but is it a fountainpen or a needlepoint pen?
Is it completely cylindrical or octagonal?
Is there something on the handle to prevent our hands from slipping?
Or whose pen was this?
What was written with it?
A person is afraid of what he cannot understand and wants to destroy what he fears.
In one study, volunteers were shown the eyes of some people.
In other words, faces were covered, they were shown only their eyes, and ask those people to guess their emotions.
Is this person sad, happy, or angry?
Can you just look into their eyes and tell that?
Come on, try it now.
I'll just show you my own eyes. Are you ready?
Could you guess?
Yes, it was a very peaceful face.
The results of a study show that people who read novels, that is, fiction,
make much more accurate predictions than those who read non-fiction books.
This shows that reading fiction improves empathy skills.
Oh well, what should we read?
If you want to suggest a few current books, here are the best books of 2023.
Moreover, these were determined by over 200,000 votes cast in Turkey.
Kitapyurdu Türkiye Reader Awards, in which readers voted only for local and foreign books that
went on sale in 2023, have been concluded.
And the best books were determined in 10 different categories.
On the 100th anniversary of our Republic, the work titled Birth of the Republic received the most votes in two different categories.
This book by the famous historian İlber Ortaylı,
which deals with the struggles and achievements of the first years of the Republic,
was chosen as both the best history book and the best social life book.
In the novel category, where there is a great competition, Şermin Yaşar's Söyleme Bilmesinler,
one of the most popular books since last year, came first by receiving the majority of the votes.
In the story category, Zülfü Livaneli was the winner with his work Shadows,
which is almost a tribute to Istanbulite writers and poets.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kitapyurdu Turkiye Reader Awards
for bringing a new breath of excitement to the book and reading culture in our country.
You can use the link in the descriptions section to see all the works and winners competing in the categories of novel,
story, poetry, history, memoir-essay, philosophy, children, social life, religious life and my first book.
You can reach your favorite writers and poets there and increase your empathy with their works.
Speaking of empathy…
I think this is a concept that is not given enough importance.
So, naturally, one might wonder
if It is needed to read a few thousand pages of a book just to increase my empathy skills.
If they were asked what kind of skills they would like to have in this life,
most people would probably not even think of saying empathy.
It entered our lives in a very simple way, such as "don't do to others what you don't want done to you."
However, empathy means much more than that.
If you cannot understand the other person's feelings,
if you cannot put yourself in their shoes,
you cannot get rid of some constantly recurring problems.
Some things keep going round and round.
You will have problems at work, you will feel distant with your friends, problems will arise in your family...
However, it is easier for someone who can empathize more easily to struggle with these things
even if they happen in their life.
Be as smart as you want,
if your mind is busy with such problems you won't be able to produce much.
Being smart without empathy is
like having a beautiful voice but never speaking.
Actually, wait a minute, I think a very good TV series was even made about this, right?
So books are not just about writings.
They also have emotions.
As we read them, they open up to us and share their talents with us.
Books are wise.
They shine light for you when you lose your way.
It is very plausible that we learn a lot from books and that they contribute to memory and creativity.
Just in this form, we can say that the books are wise.
But real wisdom comes from somewhere else.
One of the biggest problems, especially in modern times, is stress and anxiety.
Of course, I don't mean the books written on this subject.
Of course, they are helpful too, but any book can help us in this regard.
It doesn't matter what it is...
Isn't it interesting?
A study has shown that reading books reduces stress by almost 70%.
There is even a therapy method through books:
Bibliotherapy.
Many people also say that they get a lot of benefit from it.
The hustle and bustle of modern life, It's actually like being able to breathe inside.
Sometimes there are so many things going on in our heads
that we have a hard time focusing on the work we need to do.
When I think I should go and shoot a video, bills come to my mind.
While I try to pay the bills, when I connect to internet, this time the news site gets my attention.
Sometimes it feels like you're going to lose your mind while jumping from place to place.
But are books like that?
Each line has only one line.
It invites you to read in a certain rhythm.
It rearranges your rapidly beating heart.
That's why books are also wise.
Sometimes in life, when we lose our way, they become a light for us.
Books not only wake you up,
they also put you to sleep.
Just as books open our eyes, they also help us close our eyes.
There is such a thing as reading a book before going to bed, isn't there?
Although I think it's more like,
"I can't spare time for this during the day, let me take a look at it before going to bed."
We say it with the thought of it anyway...
However, there are scientific studies showing that when we do this, that is,
when we read a book before going to bed, we fall asleep more easily.
You know, like the question "Is it that one or this one?"
I know this is the last scene many of you see before going to sleep.
However, many studies show that looking at screens before going to bed makes it difficult for us
to sleep and reduces the efficiency of our sleep.
I've been showing you scientific research on screens throughout the video,
but now it's time for bed.
So I'll move on to that now.
Not only because of the sleep issue I mentioned,
but also because touching the book and turning those pages also has an effect.
Feeling the book in your fingers, turning the pages,
feeling that texture and
even the smell activates many different regions in the brain.
In its simplest form, it actually offers us a richer experience.
There are some studies indicating that this also increases deep learning.
Indeed, when I think about it, there are some books that even when I remember that smell,
I am dragged back into the story in the book.
I hope this smell is not the smell of the Plague!
There is no friend as loyal as a book.
Reading is time travel.
Books are like mirrors.
In them you see only what is inside you.
We read to know that we are not alone.
Once you learn to read, you will be free forever.
What else do you want to know about me?
Everything...
Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being at home again.
The best books are the ones that tell you what you already know.
Books are dangerous.
Some may change your life.
A book is a dream that you can hold in your hands.
Read to truly live.
Read to love.
Read to feel it.
Capture the moment with books.
Make your life extraordinary.
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