BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgina.

What type of books do you like

to read, Georgina?

I love reading crime fiction - you know

detective stories by authors like

Ruth Rendell or Agatha

Christie.

Really? Do you find them relaxing?

I wouldn't say relaxing exactly, but I get

really involved in the story - trying to work

out who the murderer is... then

finding out on the last page.

That's interesting because today

we'll be looking at how books

can help us relax and

feel more alive during troubled times.

We'll be finding out how reading

is one of the best

ways to find relief from the pressures

of modern life.

Neil, are you talking about 'Bibliotherapy'?

Amazing detective skills, Georgina!

Exactly. 'Bibliotherapy' is

the prescription of books

as a remedy to sickness. It has

been around since 2013, when

the UK charity Reading Agency

published a list of books that

doctors could offer to patients,

tackling topics from depression

to dementia to chronic pain.

Since then, 1.2 million readers have

borrowed the scheme's books

from libraries. It's so

successful that it's about to be

extended to children as well.

I wonder which books have been

most popular over that time? In fact

that's my quiz question

for today. What is the best-selling book

of all time? Is it:

a) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's

Stone by J K Rowling,

b) A Tale of Two Cities by

Charles Dickens, or c) Don Quixote

by Miguel de Cervantes?

I'll say a) Harry Potter.

OK. Well, we'll find out later if you're right.

In 'Bibliotherapy', people meet up to read

together. Professor Philip Davis,

who runs these reading groups,

believes they help the

participants 'come more alive'.

Here he is speaking to BBC Radio 4's

You and Yours about

what he's discovered:

Above all, that it's not to do with scanning,

with quick reading, when

they're reading literature.

If they're just scanning, if you're just

looking for information, you go fast,

it's very easy,

it's automatic but when literature begins

to do something more

complicated than that

in an area that emotionally you

care about, the brain begins to

work from different parts,

from a different hemisphere and

it gets excited, it gets pre-emotional - you

can see the brain

coming to life and it's that life

that is important in terms of these

reading groups.

One type of reading is scanning - reading

quickly in order to find

specific information

or skimming the page to get

a general understanding.

But the real therapy happens when

a group reads literature - written

works such as novels,

poems or plays which are thought

to have artistic merit. When group

members read literature

their brains get excited and start working

from a different

hemisphere - a word meaning

'half a sphere' - usually half the Earth

or in this case, the human brain.

Reading literature in this this way makes

both the left and right hemisphere of the

brain come to life - start to be activated

again after a quiet period.

And it's this 'coming to life' that proves

the therapeutic effects of 'Bibliotherapy'.

Here's Professor Davis again explaining

how the benefits of group reading

are observed:

There are two methods really - you

can have ECG where you put

electrodes on the scalp

and it measures electricity so that

you can have a print-off of

a graph of the sudden

leaps than can happen at particular

moments in reading a poem

or short story or you can

go into the scanner, the FMRI, and there,

the blood flow, the oxygen indicates again

changes in the configuration of the brain

as it takes in this new stimulus.

The benefits of reading literature

with others can be felt by group members

as they begin

to feel more alive and able to cope

with life's ups and downs. But they can

also be measured

scientifically by recording

brain wave activity.

This can be done by carefully attaching

metal wires called electrodes

to the reader's scalp

- the skin under the hair on the head.

Brain activity is then measured by giving

the reader a stimulus - something

that encourages

activity in people. In this case, it could

be a poem or novel to read.

Or something really

stimulating - like a detective story!

Or a work of literature - which reminds me

of today's quiz question.

I asked you to name

the most popular book of all time,

and you said...

a) Harry Potter and the

Philosopher's Stone...

...which is definitely the most popular

book in the 21st Century.

But number one of all

time, selling over 500 million copies is

c) Cervantes' Don Quixote.

And there's even a

detective in it!

Today, we've been discussing the

therapeutic effects of meeting up

with others in a reading

group to read literature - writing of artistic

value, such as stories and poetry.

In contrast to scanning - reading quickly

to find facts - reading groups

use literature

as a stimulus - something that

encourages activity in people.

Reading stimulates both the left and right

hemispheres - the two halves of the brain,

and increases emotional activity

which can be measured on

the scalp - the skin under

the hair on a reader's head.

All of which helps people dealing with

trauma to come to life - feel active

and more alive

after a quiet period.

Right, that's it ... I'm off to the library!

If only you could... Thanks for listening

and remember you can find

many more stimulating

topics and vocabulary here at

6 Minute English on

BBC Learning English. Bye for now.

Bye!