Reading a good novel can be an intensely personal experience, as the characters, settings, and plots stir our minds and, at times, our hearts. Over the years, psychologists have found ways to quantify these subjective events to see how they affect our minds. We know that the more people read, …

I will start by saying: the BBC’s #LoveToRead campaign looks fantastic and I love that it ‘celebrates reading for pleasure’, and aims to start ‘a unique national conversation about books’. Nevertheless, among all the dramatizations, documentaries and live events planned, one aspect of the campaign is oddly unadventurous – its …