Reading Really does make you smarter.......

A couple quotes from an article by Martha Brockenbrough (linked below):

In a paper called What Reading Does for the Mind, Anne E. Cunningham, associate professor of cognition and development at the University of California, Berkeley, makes the case that reading:
*increases vocabulary more than talking or direct teaching;
*substantially boosts general knowledge while decreasing the likelihood that misinformation will be absorbed; and
*helps keep our memory and reasoning abilities intact as we age.

"Still, it's eye-opening--especially for a parent of a new reader--to grasp how big a difference reading can make, and how important it is for a child to have early success and positive feelings about reading. Cunningham also showed those had a direct impact on a person's likelihood of becoming a bookworm.
"An early start in reading is important in predicting a lifetime of literary experience," Cunningham writes. "It means that students who get off to a fast start in reading are more likely to read over the years, and, furthermore, this very act of reading can help children compensate for modest levels of cognitive ability by building their vocabulary and general knowledge.""

For the whole article (it's not a long one): What Effect Reading Has on Our Minds
by Martha Brockenbrough