When you read a novel, you are immersing yourself in what its like to be inside another persons head. You are simulating a social situation. You are imagining other people and their experiences in a deep and complex way. So maybe, he said, if you read a lot of novels, you will become better at actually understanding other people off the page. Perhaps fiction is a kind of empathy gym, boosting your ability to empathize with other peoplewhich is one of the most rich and precious forms of focus we have.

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari