The Business Case for Reading Novels

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR READING

NOVELS

While reading a book or story,

people are prone to subconsciously

adopt the behavior, thoughts,

beliefs and internal responses of

fictional characters. “Fiction-reading activates neuronal pathways in the brain that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion- improving his or her overall social skillfulness.”

INCREASE YOUR EQ

Reading novels has been shown to increase your

Emotional Intelligence, or EQ. Emotional intelligence

(EQ) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the

emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups.

So, when reading an engrossing book, you

begin to subconsciously think like the

characters!

READ F ICTION- RAISE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EQ)

What Should We Read: I recommend the

great American novel, as relevant today as it

was over 80 years ago…

Which is the Great American novel?

It was written in the 1922 during the Roaring

Twenties, well before the great depression.

Here’s what American society looked like then…

THEN AND NOW- 1920’S AMERICA

Consumer Credit Boom

Booming Housing Market

Inflated Stock Market

Public Fascination with

Celebrities

Rising Inequality

Sound

Familiar?

THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL

The "Great American

Novel" is the concept of a novel that is

distinguished in both craft and

theme as being the most accurate

representative of the zeitgeist in the United States at the time of its writing.

GATSBY LEXICON

"A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady

excitement: 'There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the

busy, and the tired.'"

"Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have

always been obstinate about being peasantry”

The language used in the Great Gatsby is old,

but the ideas are timeless. It continues to be

one of America’s favorite stories and is a well-

known pop culture reference…

THERE ARE NO SECOND ACTS IN AMERICAN LIVES

We learn emotion and how to interpret our

feelings from the world around us. Be sure

to surround yourself authors and books that

are worthy of your attention and emotions.

For the next last two slides, notice if you feel an emotional response…

SCOTT & ZELDA

To Scott,

Dearest: I am always grateful for all the loyalties you gave

me, and I am always loyal to the concepts that held us to-

gether so long: the belief that life is tragic, that a man’s

spiritual reward is the keeping of his faith: that we

shouldn’t hurt each other. And I love, always your fine

writing talent, your tolerance and generosity; and all your

happy endowments. Nothing could have survived our life.Devotedly,and always with mydeepest gratitudeZelda 

THANK YOU

Ryan Melnikas

[email protected]

Sources: The Business Case for Reading Novels: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/the_business_case_for_reading.htmlHow Reading Fiction Boosts Empathy:http://www.good.is/posts/how-reading-fiction-boosts-empathy/