Why do we read?

Question

C.S. Lewis once asked this question to his students in college. He decided that the best answer was given by a young man who answered thus: To know we're not alone.
Does anyone have a better answer, or can support the young man's answer?

Answer 1

a better answer, no
a different answer, maybe

i read so i can be smarter than the boy that sits behind me
i read so i can fall in love with something that won't hurt me
i read to have something to say
i read so i can read more
i read so i don't have to feel like i'm alone

Answer 2

I know I'm not alone and that's one reason I read. I have a keen interest in people and what they have to say and what they think about so I get into books to get inside the author's head.

Every book is an adventure. I can learn about my past or zoom into the future. I can scare myself silly or turn my mood around just by getting into a storyline. It's a great escape. The love of reading is one of the best things a child can be taught to do.

Answer 3

I'm not looking for affirmation of my existence.
That's trivial-- though I understand the need for belonging, and some may think they can find it in the corner of a book-- which I'm also guilty of.

What I am looking for is the boundaries of thought. What doesn't make sense, what does-- where my ideas fit, who's already thought them, and how I can go further.

I read to warp my mind. To break down the walls I build up. To engage or light upon new orientations for myself and others in the world.

Answer 4

I am an avid reader of just about anything.
I think we read not only as a learning tool but to escape.
Some people use TV,drugs/alcohol, personally I use books to leave reality for a few hours.
You can explore so many other "worlds" and live so many other lives or you can learn about yourself through others in books.
We can be anyone or do anything through reading.

Answer 5

I believe people read for all sorts of reasons, but here is why i think I read:

I need to know that other people have the feelings and longings that I have.

I need to know that someone else imagines people doing terrible things.

I need to know that other people fall hopelessly in love with people they can never have.

I need to know that other people strive to find the two most beautiful words in the english language and put them together.

I need to know that other peole can get lost in their imaginations and passions and hatreds as deeply as I can, and that they turn out alright.

I read to know that I am not alone.

Answer 6

I read the Lion the Witch and the
Wardrobe to my 7 year old son, then I read Prince Caspian the 2nd book in the series to him.. I read to him because it is a way for us to bond, while promoting the love of reading. Now he is begging to read the 3rd book in the group. I have to go buy it.

Answer 7

That's a great answer. It also explains the evolution of nation states and nationalism as print media spread. giving people ways in which to self-identify and so align themselves. If you're part of a greater body of people, you're never alone.

Answer 8

Reading is one of the ways to enhance your knowledge. The more knowledge the more understanding. The more understanding the more growth of humanity. Knowledge really is power. Ignorance really is not bliss...
Reading entertains and educates.

Answer 9

I read to meet writers that are searching the soul in the same way as me, to help me in the travel to Heaven.

Answer 10

To know we are not alone is a good answere yet incomplete. We live for whom? We seek also that which seeks us, to an end.We meet.