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Does reading make you smarter?
Obviously “yes,” right?
In reality, the answer is more nuanced and quite surprising:
Reading always has an effect on your intelligence. But not always a positive one.
Today, we’re going to focus on the positive ways that reading boosts your intelligence, but one point will help us frame the discussion correctly.
And it’s an important one because history shows that dictators with dark agendas have used reading to make people duller.
For example, George Orwell wrote 1984 to highlight how propaganda worked in Stalinist Russia. Winston Smith works at the “Ministry of Truth” where his job is to remove the truth from newspapers.
As a result, citizens are subjected to rote learning en masse and their intelligence is harmed.
We need to keep Orwell’s allegory in mind when we think about how to improve our intelligence through reading.
With so many people glued to their devices and battling digital amnesia, it can be hard to know whether your reading choices are going to make you smarter or not.
That’s why today we’re going to look at exactly how reading can make you smarter. I’ll share some of the books that are most likely to do it.
Ready?
Let’s dive in!
Does Reading Make You Smarter?
Generally, consistent reading has been shown to improve cognitive ability.
And as Keith Stanovich famously showed with his Matthew Effects, children who we start off with strong reading skills develop stronger vocabulary and comprehension skills over time. Those who don’t, may have a hard time catching up. It’s like the old saying, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” but applied to reading. It’s worth reading his original paper on the matter.
But is Stanovich right?
Not necessarily, and that’s because reading isn’t just about young people. And reading to increase your intelligence is never just about reading.
Reading is just one part of a larger project. And it’s one you can start to help become smarter at any age.
In fact, one long-term study found that older adults enjoyed better cognition, critical thinking and verbal intelligence by reading consistently.
How to Read Consistently – At Any Age
When I was a kid, we used to have U.S.S.R.
(An ironic acronym, I know, given what I warned us about regarding Orwell’s allegory about Stalin in the intro.)
The teachers at my school used this term for:
- Uninterrupted
- Silent
- Sustained
- Reading
No matter how distracting the modern world gets, U.S.S.R. remains one of my key ways to keep focused while reading.
Key point: taking the time to schedule time for uninterrupted reading is itself intelligent.
All you need after that is to make sure you have a solid note taking strategy and books that actually have the ability to boost your intelligence.
In a book called Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf makes the point that you also need to “think beyond” reading itself. And I agree.
7 Ways Reading Books Makes You Smarter
What does it mean to go beyond reading?
Simple: good books that improve your smarts always get you to take action. Even if that action is nothing more than thinking about what you’re reading.
Here’s a list of things that books do to make your smarter and why additional action is always involved.
One: Exercise Your Imagination
I first read Orwell’s 1984 in grade 11. I don’t think my imagination had ever been stretched quite so far.
Imagining the scenarios described in a novel like that can’t help but make you smarter because they involve counterfactual thinking.
Many non-fiction books stretch the imagination too. Gödel Escher Bach, although quite old, still has many relevant things to say about math, self-reference and Artificial Intelligence. It uses images and short stories to help you imagine very difficult concepts and was so successful that it won a Pulitzer Prize.
Two: Increase Your Vocabulary
In my writing on how to read faster, I’ve shown the most likely way to pick up speed and still understand what you’re reading: More vocabulary.
The good news is that it’s fast and easy to memorize vocabulary.
That said, memorizing vocabulary comes with some conditions (each of which will make you smarter).
As Stanislas Dehaene makes clear in Reading in the brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention, kids and language learners also need to learn syntax and morphology.
Three: Connects You to Others
Even if you never talk to another person about what you’re reading, you’re still connected to the author.
But for maximizing the benefits, you’ll have conversations about what you’re reading. This will give your verbal memory a great workout while deepening your relationships.
Not only that, but people will be able to share their reading experiences with you. Often the best book recommendations come from conversations that spark memories and ideas in the minds of other readers.
Even if you don’t have a large circle of friends, there are local bookshop owners and librarians who love speaking about books. Don’t be shy.
Four: Improved Comprehension
Reading improves understanding in a couple of ways.
First, if you work on developing your vocabulary, you’ll recognize more words and the connections between them.
But reading consistently is also a form of spaced repetition that builds pattern recognition.
I mentioned Gödel Escher Bach, for example. When I later started reading The Road to Reality by Sir Roger Penrose, I noted similar ideas emerging. Without having done the previous reading, I probably would have gotten quickly lost.
Now, taking on challenging reading raises a “chicken or the egg” problem: When should you start taking on challenging reading and which are the best books to start reading?
For myself, I push myself a little to take on books I think are too hard for me. If I find myself understanding little or nothing, I then scale back and find a simpler introduction.
But usually, I’m able to keep moving forward, and Penrose thinks so too. He mentions the problem of people talking themselves out of continuing to read in The Road to Reality, and he’s right. At some point, you’ve got to read so that you might understand in order to break free of the chicken vs. egg loop.
Five: Epic Critical Thinking
One major reason people don’t think critically involves passive reading instead of active reading.
But the Renaissance memory master Giordano Bruno taught active reading using questioning – and he suggested we question literally everything. It’s a simple thing, but his ars combinatoria (technique of combinations) included a consistent pattern of asking what you read:
- Who
- What
- Where
- When
- Why
- How
These questions are well known, and they will improve your intelligence – and that’s because intelligence is dynamic, not fixed. But only if you ask them while reading. So not asking questions like these is just one of several critical thinking barriers to avoid. Now that you know to keep asking these simple questions, you’re able to benefit a lot more from your reading.
Keep in mind that critical thinking also needs to be done when you’re not reading. As Bacon said:
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Many philosophy books need more digestion, so don’t be afraid to take your time. I’ve had many times when insights suddenly connected years after reading a book.
Six: Boost Concentration
When using the U.S.S.R. model, a key benefit is how reading without interruption improves your focus while reading. There are a number of tactics you can add, such as the “Thor’s Hammer” technique and the “Pinch technique.” I demonstrate both in this video:
Seven: Self Esteem
There are many other benefits to reading. But one of the smartest that makes reading worth your time is how reading can make you feel better about yourself.
As in all things, what you read needs to be considered.
And let’s face it, if something you read makes you feel badly about yourself, you might have dopamine issues or other problems that reading can’t fix.
But generally, a wide variety of reading will help you encounter the many aspects of humanity, good and bad.
The more you extend your field of reference, the more you’ll see yourself in the larger context of humanity. Even just picking up seemingly trivial facts can help you discover new ways of thinking and activities to try and it’s hard for your self esteem not to go up.
With all that in mind, let’s look at some of my favorite reads for increasing intelligence.
14 Books to Read to Increase Your Intelligence
Before we get into this list, it’s important to understand that finding the best books comes down to your goals.
Ask yourself: “What do I want to get smarter about?”
From there, reading on any topic is pretty much a win-win, provided that you’re consistent. You’ll quickly learn who the leading experts are. And even if you read something poor in quality or depth of understanding, you’ll start developing the pattern recognition needed to spot that.
In other words, there are no bad books. Only opportunities for reflective thinking after reading anything on your list.
Okay, enough advice. Here are some books I think anyone will benefit from on the quest to be smarter in a variety of areas.
- Happiness Beyond Thought by Gary Weber
- Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
- The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
- Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley and Terence Sejnowski
- Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- Memory Craft by Lynne Kelly
- Infinity by Brian Clegg
- Plato’s Republic
- The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics by Adrian Moore
- Creating Great Choices by Jennifer Riel and Roger L. Martin
- How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman
- Inquiry into Existence by James Swartz
- The Knowledge Illusion by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach
How to Use chatGPT To Get Great Book Recommendations
I could list many more books that have made me smarter, but let me suggest this in the age of chatGPT. Create a template for the topics you want to know more about. Like this:
Please ignore all previous instructions. You are an expert researcher who finds books to help keep the world’s smartest professor keep getting smarter.
I want you to find 20 of the best books on [insert your topic] in the [insert your preferred] language. Please make sure that 10 of the books are less common, but still come from respected sources. In other words, what are the books recommended by the best [insert your topic]? Make sure the recommendations come from experts with substantial credibility and a proven track record of making ideas accessible to the public
Do not self reference. Do not explain what you are doing.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find some books I didn’t know about when using this template for a variety of topics.
Common Questions Answered
Now let’s have a quick Q&A to help us sum up.
How Does Reading Make You Smarter?
Reading specifically makes you smarter when you set goals and seek books that help you fulfil those goals.
It’s really that simple.
After that, it comes down to improving your vocabulary, increasing your pattern recognition and using reading to help you connect with others better.
Reading also helps you set more goals in the future, usually with more focus and specificity thanks to the compound value of continuing to read based on specific goals in a consistent manner.
How Often Do I Have To Read To Get Smarter?
Technically, you can get smarter by not reading at all. For example, we know from deliberate practice studies that you can improve your intelligence about painting simply by painting more in more environments.
Speaking of painting, I watched videos on both Photoshop and AI image generators to collaborate with the Internet itself to make the image at the top of this blog post. Some reading was involved, but the learning cycle needed a lot more in order for me to develop the necessary skills and abilities.
So there’s no “cookie cutter” answer to this question. You either want to read as much as possible with consistency towards a goal (including the goal of pleasure). Or you want to figure out the minimum doses you can take and use a technique like interleaving.
When I use interleaving, I read in blocks of 15-20 minutes before switching to another book or another task altogether.
Other than that, I make sure to read daily. As much as I possibly can.
Does Reading Increase IQ?
I believe that reading could well increase IQ.
The problem comes down to your willingness to establish a baseline and then take IQ tests repeatedly.
Is this the best way to test whether or not your reading has improved your intelligence?
I personally could not be bothered because having discussions with others and applying my reading to completing specific goals is a much better testing method.
If I read a book about writing and produce a better book, does it really matter if it increased my IQ? I think not.
What Kinds of Books Make You Smarter?
This again comes down to choosing the right goals to complete a particular goal.
Generally, you want books written by:
- Good researchers
- Clear communicators
- Writers with credibility
- Writers with unique perspectives
All of these qualities are fulfilled by a variety of publishers, both on the mass market and amongst independents.
For example, I recently read The Nomads at Large by Monte Dwyer. He’s an Australian journalist who started his own publishing outfit and does what you might call immersion journalism for some of his books. I saw his table in a shopping mall, chatted with him for a few moments, and knew he was a writer I wanted to read.
Just one of his books made me smarter about a specific group of people in Australia, about Australia overall and about his career as an indie author. I’m especially impressed by his ability to write so well and produce such nice looking books on his own – so I also learned through observation how I can do better myself. Heck, I even got smarter about what kinds of companies exist in Australia by reading his colophon page.
All of which is to say that books perfectly suited to make you smarter are everywhere around you. Having goals is always great, but if you keep your eyes open and talk to indie authors, you can find yourself getting smarter about topics you didn’t even know existed.
Why Does Reading Make You Smarter?
At the end of the day, writing makes you smarter for the same reasons it can possibly threaten your intelligence:
Connection.
I used to reject the idea “garbage in, garbage out.”
But there’s truth to it.
Just as your body and mind react poorly to foods that are bad for your brain, if you constantly read poorly researched books filled with poisonous ideas, you might “know” more and remember that kind of content. But you won’t be smarter, even if memory bias makes you feel like you are.
When you read a variety of materials to build your pattern recognition and stretch your critical thinking muscles, you’ll be able to discern what’s good and what’s bad. And just as someone who maintains their diet can tolerate the occasional junk food from time to time – and even enjoy it – you can intelligently enjoy even those books that are filled with toxic ideas.
And if you’d like help remembering more of what you read, please consider getting my free memory improvement course:
These are the tips I use day in and day out to remember more of what I read. That way, I’m able to not only retain the information, but also think about it in a reasoned manner.
Our species still needs to read intelligently (because memory and intelligence are connected), and also listen and view with our best critical capacities switched on. I hope these suggestions help you out and I wish you much more pleasure and positive outcomes as you continue to read in this fascinating world of ours.
