读书让人快乐么？(2015/06/24)

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier?intcid=mod-most-popular

People who read a lot of fiction tend to be better at empathizing with others. And in 2013, an influential study published in Science found that reading literary fiction (rather than popular fiction or literary nonfiction) improved participants' results on tests that measured social perception and empathy, which are crucial to "theory of mind": the ability to guess with accuracy what another human being might be thinking or feeling, a skill humans only start to develop around the age of four.
fiction is a kind of simulation, one that runs not on computers but on minds: a simulation of selves in their interactions with others in the social world --- based in experience, and involving being able to think of possible futures. This idea echoes a long-held belief among both writers and readers that books are the best kinds of friends; they give us a chance to rehearse for interactions with others in the world, without doing any lasting damage.