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Reading Too Many Books

Do you think that you can read too many books and end up out of touch with reality? Maybe I'm asking… could reading too much impact you negatively or make you socially awkward?

Books Too Reading

I don't think that reading too many books is possible. Reading has many positive aspects. Some people are socially awkward and prefer to read over talking with people. Reading books you at least can read about human interactions and have an idea about relationships. I would say some very avid gamers would fit in more for what you are talking about. Playing video games a great amount of time can socially isolate you. You aren't learning about relationships much at all while playing. The most socially awkward people I have met are hard core gamers and not readers.

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Speaking as someone who spent their entire early life as a socially inept person who in many cases literally hid behind a book, not in my experience.

I have always had difficulties interacting with others, to the point that I and my family suspect that I'm on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum. My teachers in elementary school actually thought I was mute for the first year or so. No official diagnosis there, I just meet enough of the symptoms to make us wonder if we couldn't have addressed things better in my youth.

Books didn't make me that way, they helped me get past it. The stories within provided relief and comfort when I wanted to panic, even when I did not have a book on hand, I could recall what I've been reading lately and immerse myself in the tale to distract my mind long enough to get through the situation at hand.

In the long run, they also taught me about the vagaries of social life I had never managed to learn from my peers, which helped a great deal when I finally gained the confidence needed simply to talk with people in person. My interactions with others are still somewhat outdated and formal as a result, but there certainly are worse things.

Edited: daishain on 7th Dec, 2016 - 4:51pm

Books Too Reading

While I think there is some hidden purpose in the underlying questions I believe it comes down to the type of books that are read and how the reader takes in what is being read. If you are reading fantasy but take it as reality then of course there are going to be problems.

Books Too Reading

Reading too many books I think is not possible either. Reading a lot of different style books can give you an education that can surpass any education that some places teach.

If a person reads a lot of fantasy books and can ot differentiate between the fantasy world and the real word then that is not a book issue or reading too much issue but a whole different issue. Just like some gamers I have met who can not leave their characters behind in the games.

As long time reader of science fiction and fantasy I have read many books. I have even read a lot of horror, true crime, even some historical novels. I try to read anything that interests me but my main interest is the science fiction/fantasy genre. I feel that all the reading I have done has helped me in many aspects of my life. I still to this day continue to read and many of the books I have read I have at home in my personal library.

Reading Too Many Books

I too don't believe it is possible to really read too much, at least not as an adult. Sure, some may try but more often then not real life will force a person to stop reading and do something else. More, I believe it actually takes a certain mindset or mental issues to ever be concerned with growing out of touch with reality.

Books of fiction are not that, and most are able to realize and understand such is not real no matter how much they real. I read numerous books in high school, devouring whatever caught my interest, but reality always found ways of having pay attention to it. Sure, sometimes to my annoyance but still I was able to easily keep perspective.

One can have a love of reading, even perhaps reading a novel a day, and it not be an addiction. Still, one may need to be careful not to gain too much a preference for fantasy over reality. I admit, I have often felt the stories and books I read as well the settings created make more sense then real life.

Reality can be chaotic and uncertain, especially for one with Asperger's, and the structures and rules found in fiction for me have often make more sense. I am given the means of reading a character's innermost thoughts and see the world from there perspective thus allowing me to understand them better. Often frustratingly, this is impossible in real life.

I understand I can't know a person's thoughts or hidden motivation, I can only see and heard what is given to me. Sarcasm, lies, and even emotion can be easy to miss. Yet reading many books have helped me in many ways though as well, allowing me to consider new or different perspectives in a format I can understand. Ideas can be given, allowing me to read an consider them quietly. So that is a plus.

Reading Too Books

I don't think reading too many words makes a person socially awkward. It's when the reading begins to impact your eating and sleeping habits (Becoming dangerous) that its bad. Social constructs aren't really something to judge behavior on. You just need to find a group of like-minded people that share your love of certain literature. I personally find myself daydreaming about stories I've read constantly. My friends recognize this and give me space, while still keeping me in check socially.

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While I was in high school, I got in trouble for reading too many books and not doing my homework, yet after becoming an adult this became no longer the case. Now, I am lucky to get just one book a month read… Admittedly, I just realized I had previously posted here.

Whoops, my mistake.

Edited: Thomaslee on 27th May, 2017 - 5:41pm