Reading fiction enhances social skills
People who read a lot of fiction are known to have stronger social skills than nonfiction readers or nonreaders.
A new study suggests that reading fictional works, especially stories that take readers inside people’s lives and minds, may enhance social skills by exercising a part of the brain involved in empathy and imagination.
Reading fictional excerpts about individuals and groups of people heightens activity in a brain system known as the default network. This system is active when people are imagining hypothetical situations, such as the past or the future, or thinking about another person’s perspective.
The study, at Harvard University, involved 16 women and 10 men, aged between 19 and 26. The subjects underwent MRI brain scans while reading 52 brief excerpts from novels, magazines and other sources.
Participants who were frequent fiction readers had enhanced activity in regions of the default network associated with reading about people. Such enhanced activity was linked to higher scores on social-cognition assessments.
Who should be the next James Bond?
If Spectre does end up being Daniel Craig’s James Bond swansong, director Sam Mendes certainly did his best to give the most popular 007 since Sean Connery a suitable sendoff. From Bond’s first genuine romance since Vesper Lynd in 2006’s Casino Royale, to that nostalgic look back at the British actor’s greatest bad guy smash hits in the endgame, and even in Bond’s drive off into the sunset at the wheel of his classic Aston Martin DB5, it all felt like a fitting farewell to the Craig era.
Then there were the 48-year-old actor’s comments, made towards the end of Spectre’s filming and since partially retracted, that he would rather slash his wrists than reprise the role for a fifth time.
The bookies are making killing bets on who will be the next Bond - even if Craig remains contracted for one more movie and could yet return. Currently their favourite is Tom Hardy. His movie Mad Max: Fury Road was one of last year’s biggest genre hits at the global box office, and also came home with six Oscars. Of all the current favourites to be the next Bond, Hardy perhaps has the greatest range: he’s played grimy American rogues (The Revenant), working-class Brit bruisers (Legend, Bronson) and everything in between. And he certainly has the charisma to pick up 007’s Walther PPK and minimally mixed Martini. Other favourites are: Idris Elba, Damien Lewis, Henry Cavill and Tom Hiddelston.
