Why do you read non-fiction?

[Shimarenda]

I think I still read more nonfiction than fiction, but I used to read almost no fiction. My nonfiction reading is a mix of biblical and devotional works, history, music, and the occasional work read for cultural or informational reasons. I like to read to better my understanding of the world around me. It's only recently that I've begun to see, thanks for the likes of O'connor and Chesterton, that some fiction can be good for that purpose, too.

[alecE]

Over a year, my reading will be roughly 2 : 1 in favour of fiction. The non-fiction reading will cover a variety of subjects - primarily historical but anything else that is "interesting" (subjective user-defined term!). Why? 'Cos it provides me with new information or new ways of looking at things. I don't see any contest between F & NF though, both provide reading pleasure, albeit in different ways

[Prash]

I used to read mostly fiction few years ago, when I was in college and never even touched more than one non-fiction book a year unless it had something related to my classes.

Now a year has passed since I got my college degree, and now I find myself going from one non fiction book to another. I feel non-fiction gives the mind more things to contemplate and when you have several questions raging in your head, non fiction works better than fiction I guess. When I read fiction, I am usually taken to some alternate world and I forget myself. It is fun, but reading non fiction seems way more advantageous to me than fiction - atleast right now when I'd have to take steps which would be deciding my future. But I make sure that I pick up one or two select fiction books between the non fiction books, to keep the other part of mind alive and kicking.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Prash

I used to read mostly fiction few years ago, when I was in college and never even touched more than one non-fiction book a year unless it had something related to my classes.

Now a year has passed since I got my college degree, and now I find myself going from one non fiction book to another. I feel non-fiction gives the mind more things to contemplate and when you have several questions raging in your head, non fiction works better than fiction I guess. When I read fiction, I am usually taken to some alternate world and I forget myself. It is fun, but reading non fiction seems way more advantageous to me than fiction - atleast right now when I'd have to take steps which would be deciding my future. But I make sure that I pick up one or two select fiction books between the non fiction books, to keep the other part of mind alive and kicking.

Congrats on graduating. Keep reading.

[garrybuck]

Most of what I read is Project Gutenberg stuff, so I read mostly fiction. But from time to time I get a kick out of reading an old non-fiction book, like the latest up-to-date information on aircraft design circa 1900. One of the things I'm learning from that is that our technology changes over time, but how we use it (i.e. human nature) doesn't change a bit.

[patrickt]

For 35 years I was reading non-fiction 90% of the time. It was almost all work related.

When I retired, it flipped. Now, 90% of what I read is fiction.

I taught my kids that there can often be more truth in fiction than non-fiction.

[Baldrake]

Originally Posted by rePete

The Bible is my top non-fiction read since I prefer to read it yearly. [There's bound to be difference of opinion on it's non-fiction/fiction status.]

Karma awarded for giving me a chuckle.

[butterbescotch]

Non-fiction, in general, are more informative than Fiction.
However, Fiction, in general, offers more entertainment than Non-Fiction.