The online book community would have you believe that reading non-fiction is an eye-bleeding experience, akin to reading an entire dictionary page-by-monotonous-page. We tend to view this field of literature as vastly complicated and burdensome, erroneously referring to it as a ‘genre’. In actuality, non-fiction (like fiction) is a literary umbrella, comprised of varying subject matters, formats and sub-genres. Whilst it is true that insight and understanding can be extracted from many popular fiction genres, to dismiss non-fiction altogether is to severely limit the extent to which we can broaden those insights.

With that in mind, here are 10 Reasons to read Non-Fiction.

1. It teaches you about different types of people and the world around you.
2. It teaches you new skills such as baking, crafts, mechanics or how to manage finances.
3. Non-fiction (like fiction) is a field of literature that is comprised of different genres from finance to memoirs to graphic/illustrated texts, for example They Called Us Enemy by George Takei.
4. It has the ability to change your perception of the world around you and make you critically engage with the things you hear on the news, the movies you watch, the music you listen to etc.

5. A lot of non-fiction is written in an accessible way, it’s not all academia and difficult to read language. Take the following books as an example:

6. Reading non-fiction to do with social issues raises awareness. It puts the things we see and experience in our everyday lives into perspective and helps us to deconstruct the social biases and problematic behaviours that we might not be aware we possess.
7. Non-fiction is easier to read in audiobook format which means a cleaner house. 
8. It helps us better articulate thoughts and ideas in real world settings such as at work.

9. It’s a cheaper way to get a university level education. Libraries, bookshops, library apps and book subscription services make it easy to source books that specialise in more academic subject matters such as science, sociology, psychology, computing and much more.
10. There are some really fun and digestible children’s non-fiction books that adults can enjoy too. Take David Olusoga’s Black and British: A Forgotten History as an example. Even though this tome contains some pictures, the typeset and language may be daunting for some. The much more user-friendly children’s version (pictured right) and other such simplified versions may be more preferable options.

Like so many others, I also enjoy reading for the escapism and getting lost in fictitious and imagined worlds or simply reading for the light-heartedness of it all, but with the 10 points listed above, I hope I have made non-fiction seem more accessible and convinced you to explore more of these books in your reading.

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