ABSTRACT
Reading gives access to other people’s thoughts, constructions and experience of the world so that readers can move, even momentarily, away from their own island state to the wider continent of different minds. Conversely, reading also situates individuals within their own culture, recording its history and heritage to reinterpret and add to. At a localised level reading is a form of rapid communication, a sharing of information about events, games, ceremonies, births, deaths. Reading is also a form of play through symbol-making and manipulation, of entertainment, of pleasure, of satisfaction, particularly through story. Narrative is an inherently human activity, a primary act of mind and the way we organise and make sense of our experience (Hardy, 1977). Readers are recipients of new words, learned highly efficiently through reading, which provides a more nuanced, subtle understanding of the world. Reading facilitates the accrual of vast amounts of knowledge, facts, theories and concepts – far more than individuals acting independently could gather from daily interaction with the world and through conversation. In fact, reading makes the reader a great deal smarter (Cunningham and Stanovich, 2001).
