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Science fiction builds mental resiliency in young readers:
Young people who are "hooked" on watching fantasy or reading science fiction may be on to something. Contrary to a common misperception that reading this genre is an unworthy practice, reading science fiction and fantasy may help young people cope, especially with the stress and anxiety of living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am a professor with research interests in the social, ethical and political messages in science fiction. In my book "Medicine and Ethics in Black Women's Speculative Fiction," I explore the ways science fiction promotes understanding of human differences and ethical thinking.
While many people may not consider science fiction, fantasy or speculative fiction to be "literary," research shows that all fiction can generate critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence for young readers. Science fiction may have a power all its own.
- [...] Literature as a moral mirror
- [...] Why science fiction gets a bad rap
- [...] The mental health of reading
- [...] The powerful world of science fiction
[...] Let them read science fiction. In it, young people can see themselves – coping, surviving and learning lessons – that may enable them to create their own strategies for resilience. In this time of COVID-19 and physical distancing, we may be reluctant for kids to embrace creative forms that seem to separate them psychologically from reality.
But the critical thinking and agile habits of mind prompted by this type of literature may actually produce resilience and creativity that everyday life and reality typically do not.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday May 13 2020, @12:42PM
If you were to include nonfiction, I'd have to say
A Dutch book introducing Dutch phonics, from which I learned to read.
Algebra I, Piet Vredenduin (in Dutch)
The Elements of Mathematical Logic: Paul C. Rosenbloom
The Meaning of Relativity, Albert Einstein
LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual
The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Dirac (though I mostly read just the first few chapters that introduce the basic mathematical formalism) (And I think QM makes sense if you approach it via Dirac's abstract mathematics) (I couldn't stand the hand-waving from my honours physics class on the subject and dropped out in favour of self-study)
Combinatory Logic, Curry & Feys
Axiomatic Set Theory, possibly the one by Bernays, Paul & Fraenkel, A.A.
Intuitionism: An introduction, Heyting.
one whose title I forget -- something like the meaning of the Upanishads. (Maybe the Upanishads, like Genesis, are fiction, but this was a nonfiction book about them.)
The Report on Algol 68.
And, much later, some hand-written notes by Per Martin-Lof on his Intuitionistic Type Theory.
Yes, I'm a mathematician disguised as a computer scientist.
-- hendrik