{"id":27916,"date":"2012-05-06T13:56:04","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T18:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=27916"},"modified":"2012-05-06T13:45:42","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T18:45:42","slug":"why-men-should-read-more-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Men Should Read More Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My news magazine on the iPad occasionally includes a clip from a site called The Art of Manliness<\/a><\/strong>, and this one was irresistible after last week\u2019s post on whether or not fiction is good for us. Well, this piece argues men need to read more fiction \u2026 here\u2019s the opening and you can read the whole for the reasons why:<\/p>\n

At the Art of Manliness, we encourage our readers to read books. It\u2019s through reading that we gain new perspectives and learn more about ourselves and the world around us. I\u2019m a big believer in the saying that \u201cReaders are leaders.\u201d As I\u2019ve studied the lives of great men throughout history, a common thread I\u2019ve found is that most were bibliophiles who relentlessly pursued self-education throughout their entire lives.<\/p>\n

While many men have stacks of books accumulating on their \u201cto-read\u201d pile, chances are that pile is composed primarily of non-fiction tomes. For the past 20 years or so, the publishing industry has noted a precipitous decline in the number of men reading fiction. Some reports show that men make up only 20% of fiction readers in America today.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of reasons thrown around as to why many men today don\u2019t read fiction. Perhaps they had a bad experience with it in high school and swore they\u2019d never read a novel again as long as they lived. It\u2019s possible that the male brain is just naturally more drawn to the straightforward, fact-driven nature of non-fiction. And some have suggested that men are getting their storytelling fix from the many excellent narrative non-fiction books that have come out in the past decade (e.g.,\u00a0The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Into Thin Air<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, cognitive studies are beginning to show that men might be short-shrifting themselves by avoiding the fiction section in the bookstore and library. \u00a0Today we make the case for why you need to put down those business books every once in awhile and pick up a copy of\u00a0 Hemingway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My news magazine on the iPad occasionally includes a clip from a site called The Art of Manliness, and this one was irresistible after last week\u2019s post on whether or not fiction is good for us. Well, this piece argues men need to read more fiction \u2026 here\u2019s the opening and you can read the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Men Should Read More Fiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My news magazine on the iPad occasionally includes a clip from a site called The Art of Manliness, and this one was irresistible after last week's post on\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Men Should Read More Fiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My news magazine on the iPad occasionally includes a clip from a site called The Art of Manliness, and this one was irresistible after last week's post on\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-06T18:56:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-05-06T18:45:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/\",\"name\":\"Why Men Should Read More Fiction\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-06T18:56:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-06T18:45:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"My news magazine on the iPad occasionally includes a clip from a site called The Art of Manliness, and this one was irresistible after last week's post on\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/05\/06\/why-men-should-read-more-fiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Men Should Read More Fiction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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