Today’s Solutions: May 12, 2026

Who say’s being a book-worm makes you unsocial? According to a study from Harvard University, people who read a lot of fiction are known to have stronger social skills than nonfiction readers or nonreaders. The study suggests that reading fiction 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. Fiction’s ability to improve social sills—or social cognition—may depend on how well the readers’ attention is drawing to other people’s mental states, researchers said. In any case, it’s another good reason to pick up a book.

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