Neuroscience

When was the last time you felt exhausted? It was probably recently, and it likely wasn’t just a one-time occurrence in the past few weeks. If you stop to observe, we’re all like this. This doesn’t seem like a healthy kind of tiredness, the kind that a weekend of rest can fix, but rather an “infinite tiredness.” You try to rest, but you can’t. Fortunately, the South Korean philosopher and cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han attempted to unravel the origins of this chronic fatigue in his work The Burnout Society. I’ll use it as the basis for this article, but I’ll also try to add some concepts and insights I gained while reading his book. ...

For some time now, I’ve noticed a growing wave of digital influencers focused on the literary niche. Typically, the books they recommend are popular, easily digestible works that lack deep content—what some call “fast-food” literature. But is reading these books alone enough? Is reading any book truly better than reading none? To answer these questions, we turn to a field of study that is gaining relevance every day: neuroscience. General Benefits of Reading Virtually any type of reading is sufficient to activate brain regions related to language, memory, and imagination. This process strengthens neural connections and promotes the mechanism that allows the brain to “self-modify,” known as neuroplasticity (Izquierdo, 2006). ...