When it comes to reading, we may be labouring under a false assumption that for reading to be considered ‘academic’ that it must be conducted as research for knowledge. However, recent research suggests that reading fiction may provide far more important benefits than nonfiction.

Some attributes are hard to define, evaluate, or quantify; self-discipline, self-awareness, creative problem-solving, empathy, learning agility, adaptiveness, flexibility, positivity, rational judgment, generosity, and kindness, among others. Recent research in neuroscience suggests that a trip to the nearest library might help to develop these as its believed that reading literary fiction helps to develop empathy, theory of mind, and critical thinking.

The cognitive muscles that we develop when we read are the foundation for emotional intelligence. The act of reading can develop these qualities, the implication being that fiction is actually more beneficial than non-fiction in this case. Fiction incites the increase in acuity necessary to understand other people’s motivations. So while non-fiction adds primarily to your knowledge base, it is fiction that enhances these valuable social perspectives.

American CEO Marvin Riley adopted a program of literary reading and discussion to establish psychological safety, a spirit of collaboration, meritocracy and critical thinking. His program can at the very least take credit for increasing work teams’ openness and communicative skills which effectively use a shared language. Joseph Badaracco, Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard, concurs that non-fiction works supply us with information, but fiction provides an opportunity to complicate standard good versus evil tropes. He states that good literature will present characters with competing and often equally valid viewpoints requiring the reader to make informed decisions, provoking emotional and cognitive development.

Though there is no academic data to quantify these claims, it is becoming a commonly accepted notion that where ‘guided literature study’ has been incorporated into workplace training, it has impacted on the employee’s capacity for critical thinking, creativity, and empathy. Cognitive scientist and author of 'Reader, Come Home', Maryanne Wolf proposes that “the quality of our reading stands as an index to the quality of our thought.” The premise here being that better thinkers will develop from better recreational readers.