Here are a few great quotes and fun facts about the joy of reading books!

“… a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” 
― George R.R. Martin

“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it’s much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!” 
― Neil Gaiman

Reading Books Makes You Live Longer! A study at Yale University followed 3635 participants for 12 years and concluded that “Book readers had a 23-month survival advantage and experienced a 20% reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow-up compared to non-book readers.”

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.” 
― Walt Disney

“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” 
― Malcolm X

Reading Books Exercises your Brain! A team of researchers at Stanford University discovered that reading Jane Austen results in a dramatic and unexpected increase in blood flow to multiple regions of the brain. The MRI images indicate that literary reading provides “a truly valuable exercise of people’s brains!”

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” 
― Anna Quindlen

“Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book.”
― Patti Smith

Reading Books Makes You Smarter! A study at UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto concluded that “Those who read a lot will enhance their verbal intelligence; that is, reading will make them smarter” and continued “it is difficult to overstate the importance of getting children off to an early successful start in reading.”

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” 
― Maya Angelou

“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” 
― J.K. Rowling

Reading Books Reduces Stress Levels by 68%! According to a study at the University of Sussex, people only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to slow down their heart rate and ease tension in their muscles. Listening to music reduced levels by 61%; a cup of tea by 54%; taking a walk by 42%; and playing video games by 21%. But reading was the champ reducing stress levels by 68%!

“It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” 
― James Baldwin

“All I have learned, I learned from books.” 
― Abraham Lincoln