The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you will go.


Dr Seuss

Bibliophilism is the term used to describe the love of books and when it comes to learning and personal growth, books can be such a nourishing and valuable resource.

Various studies have also demonstrated that reading books has a powerful and positive influence on how well your brain functions. Being mentally stimulated will keep your brain active and prevent it from losing its power.

Your brain is a muscle and like other muscles in the body it is so important that you give it a regular workout to keep it strong and healthy.

Both my parents (Robin and Ann) are a wonderful example of two people, in their eighties, who are incredibly smart and alert. They attribute a great deal of this to doing daily crosswords, playing Scrabble and reading lots of books!

Here are just 3 key benefits of reading books:

1. Learn how to improve critical thinking skills

Reading books can help with your ability to develop critical thinking skills, which is one of the ten skills you will need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, according to the World Economic Forum.

Critical thinking skills are crucial when it comes to making important day-to-day decisions. Reading books requires you to think and process information in a way that watching something can’t.

2. Learn how to improve your focus and concentration

In the busy world that we all live in our attention is drawn in all sorts of different directions a great deal of the time. Multitasking is the norm and can lead to high stress levels and low productivity. When you read a book, you are fully absorbed in what you are reading. Your thoughts are immersed in what is on the page and this helps to improve your ability to concentrate and focus.

3. Learn at a pace that works for you

One of the key benefits of reading a book is that you can learn at your own pace and at a time that suits you. Because you will have the book on you all the time, you can re-read a chapter or a section as many times as you want to, without worry that you will miss out on anything. We are all unique and we all learn differently, so absorbing information at your own pace will help your mind to absorb and interpret things in a way that works best for you.

The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.

Albert Einstein

Introducing the Life Skills Library

Over the last year, I have been researching and developing a series of bite-sized books for The Learning Architect. One of my greatest passions is to take wider and sometimes complex topics and distil them into easily accessible bite-sized nuggets of information that are easily transferable to real life.

This year at World of Learning, The Learning Architect will be hosting The Life Skills Library and sharing free physical books and access to our on digital library with all the visitors to the conference and exhibition.

Some of the titles that will be available will be around resilience, burnout, trust, problem solving, mental health, digital health, agile working, curiosity, winter well-being, sleep, creativity, behavioural agility and innovation, to name a few.

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing extracts from some of the bite size book titles and also offering free samples to readers so do watch out for these.

If you would like to know more about the bite sized library please email [email protected] for more information on our range of resources.