Reading

"Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in wasking in someone else's shoes for a while."
-Malorie Blackman

ResearchTrusted Source has shown that people who read literary fiction — stories that explore the inner lives of characters — show a heightened ability to understand the feelings and beliefs of others. Researchers call this ability the “theory of mind,” a set of skills essential for building, navigating, and maintaining social relationships. While a single session of reading literary fiction isn’t likely to spark this feeling, researchTrusted Source shows that long-term fiction readers do tend to have a better-developed theory of mind.