In Ray Bradbury's darkly prophetic novel Fahrenheit 451, the author reveals a world where reading books is criminal, with punishment carried out by flamethrower toting firemen, who would not only burn any books they found, but the houses in which they were hidden. Bradbury's point was that a society that stopped reading books would be a dreary, joyless place to live. While we haven't gotten to the point where enforcing the law involves torching houses, reading is certainly not as popular a pursuit as it once was.

It's not enough to scroll through Twitter or peruse your Facebook feed. In fact, the kind of cursory reading required to follow Facebook or Twitter might actually reduce attention spans and make deep thinking more difficult. Reading, for the purposes of this discussion, requires the longer texts found in nonfiction books and novels.

The number of adults who read books declined to a mere 57 percent in 2002, and the number has likely fallen since then. Movies, television, social media, and video games are competing with books for attention, and books are losing the war. The result is fewer people reading and more people relying on visual media for information.

There's no question that digital media bring a wealth of advantages to society. Information can be transmitted at the speed of light, and people have instant access to it. Reading books has its own wealth of benefits. There is evidence that reading can help delay the onset of dementia, increase the brain's ability to process information, and increase empathy.

From a business perspective, the cost-benefit ratio of reading books makes it an indispensable tool in becoming a more effective businessperson. Business classics such as Stephen R. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People and Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese contain a wealth of information that, once put into practice, can help advance one's career or help adapt to the constant changes of business practices. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Even reading novels can be a wise investment. Novels enable a person to spend time living someone else's life. Aside from the reduced stress that comes with forgetting one's own troubles, living in someone else's skin for a brief time builds empathy. It's human empathy that made novels like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" such powerful vehicles for change in their time. Our culture is sadly lacking in empathy right now, and reading might be just the thing to change that.

In addition to the benefits that the books themselves bring, the mere act of reading brings with it enormous benefits. Reading books regularly will increase vocabulary, making you a more effective communicator. The patience and focus required to do meaningful reading will carry through to other aspects of your life. You'll strengthen your ability to focus and build mental stamina in much the same way that running builds cardiovascular endurance.

With brain-training and life-hacks all the rage, we've overlooked the time-tested, reliable route to better brain function. It's sitting right in front of us, nestled on bookshelves and sitting stacked on dusty nightstands and packed on shelves in libraries. It's not flashy, or high-tech, or cutting edge. But it doesn't have to be. Since the creation of the first Gutenberg Bible, reading has transformed the world. While the internet, movies, television and video games aren't inherently bad, it would be a terrible loss to our culture if reading books became a thing of the past.