World Book and Copyright Day

April 23 has been called as the world book and copyright day. The celebration of the world of books and writers, encouraging everyone and especially the youth to discover the pleasure of reading, has been one of the goals of this naming.

Ensuring public access to books as the best way for acquisition of knowledge and expression of feelings and thoughts are the reasons for naming this day.

If you remember, last year we pinned our hope of the future of book in the current world and said that presently mankind is marching on the course of progress and we can be optimistic about the future. Part of this optimism stems from the views of experts who say that per capita book reading is increasing among people.

Per capita book reading in the simplest definition is an individual's average time of book reading during a day and night. One can add the book reading rate of all individuals of the community and divide it into the number of people in that community in a given number of days. Of course, there are other factors, such as the circulation of books that affect this evaluation.

The per capita book reading is related to cultural growth and more broadly to human development in every country. That is, the higher the per capita book reading the higher will be the cultural growth and vice versa.

As new developments take place in various fields of science, new technologies are presented almost on a daily basis. Hence, lagging behind the swift trend of knowledge and technology leaves no room for individuals or communities to compensate for the missing years. Therefore, if we want to have a robust society which can support rich history and culture, and represent it among other countries, we must attach high importance to studying and book reading.

How can we encourage others to read more books rather than spending their time on less valuable and less fruitful hobbies? One alternative can be experience. Yes, experience and sharing the delight obtained from reading books can be a way of persuading others to read more books. For sure, being plunged in the pages of a good book and the ability to convey this pleasure to others is one of the good ways to encourage them to read books.

In fact, reading books is something more than just a simple hobby or learning a new thing, and we must believe that the benefits of book reading are more than what we imagine. Although today, for many people, reading is limited to checking of the latest words on social media, we should know that the daily book reading has many benefits and we lose these benefits once we give up reading books.

A recent study on book reading has found that if you are overwhelmed with stress in your everyday life read a book. Studies made at Sussex University, Britain, show that reading is the most effective way to deal with stress. Reading books is even more effective for tackling problems and dealing with stress than enjoying popular activities such as listening to music, drinking a cup of tea or coffee, and gallivanting

One of the researchers of the project, Dr. David Lewis, says: It does not matter which book you choose to read, when you are immersed in the course of the story you leave the world of worries and every day stress and find time to discover and imagine the world of the author.

Reading books over the lifetime will help the brain to remain fresh during aging. The study was conducted on participants who all died at an average age of 89. The results of the research proved that the process of reducing the memory ability of those who constantly performed mind-stimulating activities such as reading books during their life is much less than those who do not include such activities in their daily schedule.

In addition to keeping the brain active with memory boosting techniques, reading book slows down the trend of Alzheimer's disease and dementia at old ages, and even prevents it, because keeping the brain active hinders reduction of its power. The brain needs to practice, like any muscle in the body, to stay healthy and strong. In addition to reading books, solving puzzles, doing computer games and exercises like chess have proven their positive effects in stimulating the mind. Dr. Robert Friedland says: The brain is an organ like other organs and it gets old and worn through usage. As physical activity makes the heart, muscles, and skeletal muscles stronger, mental activity also protects the brain against related diseases.

Having a comfortable sleep, sympathy, understanding the feelings and experiences of others and dealing with depression are other results of the study. Researchers call them as solid grounds for increasing the level of study. But you may also agree that these physical results and improvements in physical performance, and even increase of kindness in our hearts towards others are less than what takes place in our spirit by via reading books. It makes man a new individual.

Everything we read will add to our previous information. No matter how trivial this information may be, it will help us in one way or another. The more we have knowledge and awareness the more prepared we will be to overcome the challenges of life. Let's imagine ourselves in a difficult situation. Let's not forget that everything that we have, such as money, job, and health, may be lost one day; but our knowledge and skills remain with us forever. The more books we read the newer words we face and unconsciously we use them in everyday conversations. Having a good expression will be of great help to us in professional fields.

When reading a book, we need to remember a set of characters, their background, their ambitions, their desires, and their minor differences. We must also keep in mind all the sub-factors that affect the process of the story. As you can see, a lot of things need to be remembered in order to be able to follow a book and story, but the brain is a marvelous organ and easily maintains this information. What is amazing is that every time we bring a new subject, the brain builds up new synopses or neural pathways and enhances the previous paths. This process also helps strengthen short-term memory and mood consistency.

We are in contact with a lot of media every day and the internet draws our attention to myriads of domains. We do several things simultaneously. We can check our emails and chat with two separate persons through various software applications within a few minutes. We cast a look at Twitter while checking our Smartphone Announcement, at the same time interact with our colleagues. This behavior increases stress and reduces productivity.

When reading a book, all our attention is concentrated on the story, we forget the outside world and we are immersed in the details of the story. In order to see the amazing effects of reading on the ability of concentration, read 15 to 20 minutes every day before starting work. Take the time, for example, on the route or while you are in the subway. You will see that you will have more concentration in the workplace.

Do not raise excuses not to read books. If you do not want to or cannot buy books, there are many books at libraries on any topic you think, since they add new books to their storage from time to time or exchange books with other libraries; hence they always have new sources to read.

If you are not in the vicinity of a library or if you have trouble going to the library for various reasons, you can use the vast source of electronic books. These books can be read through e-readers, tablets, or even computers. There are thousands of free resources available throughout the internet from which you can download free books. Whatever taste you might have, there is a book to draw your attention. Choose a field based on your interest and start reading books on it. Book reading is a free hobby for a life of good quality.

FK/RM/ME