The Book Nook - Reading Builds Empathy and Review of The Fraggle Rock #1 Comic

Hey it's book day. Several weeks ago I was watch a video about a local book store in Nashville called Parnassus. In the feature the owner of the store made the point that reading builds empathy. It helps you see things from more than one point of view and understand other peoples approaches to conflict. I had never really thought about that before, but it made a wild amount of sense. This idea has been on my mind quite often this week, so I decided to compile a list of articles I found on the web that pertain to the fact that reading can help improve empathy. I found out that reading literary fiction is particularly effective. I'll have to make sure to keep that in my reading diet from now on. Here is the list of links to the articles I found the most interesting. Plus, a quote from my favorite author, Neil Gaiman who spoke on the subject. 

“And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You’re being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you’re going to be slightly changed. Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.” - Neil Gaiman

1. Scientific American - Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy
2. The Guardian - Reading Empathy Study
3. Does Reading Novels Make Us More Empathetic?
4. Tips On How To Read With Your Children to Build Empathy
5. New York Times- Reading Selections for The Empathy Study

I hope you find the links interesting too. As a fun addition I thought I give you a short review of the comic I read last night. So here it goes.

Comic Book Review - Fraggle Rock #1

Last night I was charging my e-reader because I didn't feel like messing with the charger cord I found myself reading on my tablet. Comics are always the best things to read on a tablet and I had just remembered that I got a Fraggle Rock comic on ComiXology several weeks ago that I hadn't read yet. I only got the first issue because I wanted to see what it was like in comparison with the children's show. By the way Fraggle Rock is not just for kids. It's for everyone. It will bring you joy. I promise. Fraggle Rock has been one of my shows since I was a kid, so I wasn't sure if the comic would live up to my expectations. I think it lived up to my expectations very well. The first issue contains three short stories all of which I felt were very true to the tone of the show. The art for each story is done by a different artist. All the artists did a great job of capturing the beloved characters. If you're a kid or just a kid at heart I would definitely suggest picking up issue #1 of the Fraggle Rock comic.