How books shape minds and societies, building cognitive resilience and civic mindedness

Eve Irvine is pleased to welcome Grégoire Borst, Full Professor of Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Education at Université Paris Descartes. Professor Borst illustrates how reading is so much more than learning, pleasure or information retention. It is mental training and brain reinforcement. By engaging working memory, perspective‑taking, and sustained attention, reading builds veritable pathways in the brain that support critical thinking, empathy, and cognitive resilience. Fiction fosters the ability to infer others’ mental states; nonfiction deepens factual knowledge and strengthens the capacity to question, analyse and engage in critical thinking. Over time, such habits may lower risk factors for cognitive decline. Borst emphasises that reading on paper often yields stronger memory retention than screen reading, due to spatial cues and embodied orientation in a physical book. He advocates for integrating meaningful reading into education across the life course. Ultimately, he invites us to regard reading as a shared investment in collective intelligence, solidarity and thoughtful, well-educated citizenship. Reading can be a powerful defence against fragmentation and a path toward deeper connection that fosters social interactions and quality long-lasting relationships.