This is Your Brain on Books

Interesting article on what happens to your brain when you read.

10 Things That Happen to Our Minds When We Read

"When we read, the brain does not make a real distinction between reading about an experience and actually living it. "

And this is why I don't like reading depressing books with no hope or humor!

Thanks for sharing! I find all this brain imaging stuff fascinating. I agree completely, Morphidae.

"Spacial navigability" - a name, finally, for what I experience while reading. One example was when I read The Return of the King and found that the story seemed to be ending but there still was over 100 pages left. I just finished Zoo City and was taken by surprise when it ended, too. It was followed by short stories relating to another of the author's books. It's like I'm sprinting towards the end and run off the edge of a cliff I didn't expect.

Thanks for this link--especially with explanation--I never click on links unless there is at least a hint of subject matter. Tastes are too diverse on the interwebs, even on LT or GD :)

Also, the e-book info is interesting...one continuous page. I have only used a Nook borrowed from a friend or from the library, which gave me fewer choices than if I had loaded them myself. As article stated, I did get used to the format and I probably read between 10 and 20 "books" but some were just 1st chapters. I only vaguely remember them, which also has to do with lack of color cover and lack of physical heft.

>>2 Morphidae:, 3 This is why I can't do dystopia or zombies. Don't want that in my head! The comments about audio books reminded me that I can't watch too many Cold Case or CSI at once. And the music on some shows is so suggestive or manipulative that I can't leave that in my brain either.

Interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing.

>4 mamzel: "Spacial navigability" is a big thing for me too. I find it jarring when I think the story's going to go on for a bit and I find myself at the end and the last part is appendix or the first chapter of the next book. One of the things I like about the original kindle versus the fire is that the percentage read bar is always visible.

I don't have the same problem with depressing books as some seem to. I usually find them more melancholy or bittersweet and really really enjoy them. The Road is one of my favorite books and I actually find it hopeful. Same with books like I Who Have Never Known Men and Code Name Verity, part of which I read with a lump in my throat the whole time. It's almost a cleansing feeling I get from them.

For me, the "infinite page" has actually become rather nice - I no longer find myself wondering how the author is going to wrap things up in the short number of pages I can feel between the fingers of my right hand - I just keep reading until it ends. Of course, if the author actually is rushing the denoument, then it's annoying no matter what format one reads it in.

Fascinating. All the recent researching on brains is so interesting. I am always glad to hear that I can continue to improve my brain, especially when it is about doing things I like to do: reading.

#2 - Ditto!

Interesting link. Shit! If reading is almost the same as experiencing the events yourself, then some of my books may end up traumatizing people! Probably won't be popular.

The spatial navigability is one of the main challenges with all digital media and it is why Interaction Design and Information Architecture, and the field of User Experience, has grown so big during the course of the past two decades.
I could talk a lot about this, I have worked with those things for the past 22 years ;-)

ooo Busifer, please do! It sounds interesting.

I have tried several people's e-readers of various generations, and nobody has yet succeeded in making the page-turn as fast and invisible to me as it is in a paper book.

Great article. I have a few people to pass that on to.