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Not only can reading the right books rival a university education, reading itself can help you in your overall self-development.

A number of researchers have proposed that reading might encourage creativity. Studies have consistently found there to be an association between creativity and reading ability. Regular reading has been found to contribute to the ability to build on and embellish ideas with details. It can be a source of creative inspiration and it even works the same "muscles" that are required for creativity: thinking, memory, reasoning, curiosity, and exploration.[1]

Other researchers have argued that reading enables the practice and development of critical thinking and one's overall ability to analyze ideas. Reading often requires you to think critically[1] and can be seen as a way of enhancing your thinking by exposing you to multiple perspectives (even ones you disagree with!) and allowing you to see the world in new ways.[2]

Even fiction, more specifically literary fiction, has been found to be beneficial for personal change.[3] Fiction could help you realize that you're not alone and that there are others who have faced similar problems. It could help instill a sense that what you're going through it normal. Further, you might learn how other "characters" in similar situations as yours dealt with their problems and try to model their strategies.[4] Fiction reading was also found to be positively correlated with social ability, as comprehending characters in narrative fiction parallels the imaginative thinking and feeling about others that is required in actual social situations.[5]

References

1. Wang, A. Y. (2012). Exploring the relationship of creative thinking to reading and writing. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7(1), 38-47.

2. Tierney, R. J., Soter, A., O'Flahavan, J. F., & McGinley, W. (1989). The effects of reading and writing upon thinking critically. Reading Research Quarterly, 24(2), 134-173.

3. Oatley, K. (2016). Fiction: Simulation of social worlds. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(8), 618-628.

4. Kramer, P. A., & Smith, G.G. (1998). Easing the pain of divorce through children's literature. Early Childhood Education Journal, 26(2).

5. Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Hirsh, J., Paz, J. D., & Peterson, J. B. (2006). Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(5), 694-712.