3 Benefits of Reading Fiction You Won’t Get From Reading Self-Help

Find your place in the Hero’s Journey.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

I’m going to try a little experiment. Like so many other people I have a treasure trove of personal development and self-help books. But for my experiment, I’m going to put those aside in favor of reading more fiction because stories are more powerful than strategies.

Here’s what got me thinking about this.

In the introduction to his collection of short stories, Everything’s Eventual, Stephen King writes about going to fancy airport lounges. Normally, he says, he slips in without catching the attention of many businessmen in suits populating the bar and chairs. But not always.

Occasionally someone recognizes him and wants an autograph for their wife. “The wife, these handsomely suited, briefcase-toting fellows usually want me to know, has read all my books. They, on the other hand, have read none. They want me to know that, too. Just too busy. Read The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, read Who Moved My Cheese?, read The Prayer of Jabez, and that’s pretty much it. Gotta hurry, gotta rush-rush, I got a heart attack due in about four years, and I want to be sure that I’m there to meet it with my 401(k) all in order when it shows up.”