Science News

Imagine you wake up one morning and can't read. Your eyes work, but the letters on the page have turned into squiggles. They make no sense. Now meet Howard Engel, a writer of detective stories, who has this condition, but amazingly, has found a way to trick his brain to almost read again

University of Toronto psychologist Keith Oatley presents data that seems to show that reading novels improves one’s ability to understand and empathize with others. He demonstrates using brain imaging, that the parts of the brain that are activated when reading stories are the same as those that we use in social interactions. So perhaps the next time you don’t see eye to eye with somebody, the two of you should dive into a good book.