Why You Should Read NONfiction
By Matt Watson
This is anecdotal, but I suspect that those who primarily read fiction find nonfiction to be dry and boring, while those who primarily read nonfiction think fiction is just for escapism. Just as a nonfiction reader may have difficulty enjoying reading fiction, so does the fiction-only reader have difficulty picking up a nonfiction book. In a previous article, I made the case for reading fiction, which many Christians can struggle with. In this article, I want to make the opposite case for why we should read nonfiction.
We Need A Healthy Diet of Reading
Not all nonfiction is better than all fiction, because, as Eustace showed us in the last article, having books with pictures of grain elevators in them doesn’t help us against facing dragons (both real and imaginary). Neither is all fiction better than nonfiction. A life of only fiction is like eating only chocolate all the time. It’s decadent, and you’ll get malnourished and have a rotted brain because you aren’t working out your brain. It needs to go back and forth between the two.
At this point, the argument could be made for listening to podcasts and TED Talks rather than reading. While sometimes helpful, they do not accomplish the same thing as reading does in terms of engagement. Yes, listen to podcasts. But don’t just listen to podcasts. Read a book.
Just as we stretch our minds through imagination with fiction, so too do we stretch it with fact, study, and contemplation. Fiction helps us worship by imagining and enjoying the mystery of God. Nonfiction helps us worship by learning, processing facts and history, and seeing God’s work in the history of man.
We need history. We need instruction. We need memoirs and essays of those that have entered the arena before us. We need books from wise people to help us understand the world around us. We need leadership books, cookbooks, summaries of battles, explanations of the struggle between nation-states, books to help us in counseling, books to help us understand philosophy, books to show us how to build a bookshelf, biographies, and autobiographies of great men and women. And we need to read all of this through the lens of Scripture because not all nonfiction is true fact.
Books Teach
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a modern Jules Vern, didn’t learn how to build rockets or study astrophysics in a classroom. He got inspired from reading books, found more books on the subject, and then surrounded himself with people who could focus and apply that knowledge to make a rocket ship.
Whereas science fiction helps us dream about the future, history, for example, teaches us what happened in the past so that we may avoid mistakes in the present and future. In Musk’s case, that includes the history of physics. For Christians, that includes histories of interpretation and commentaries from people, all of whom are imperfect, like Luther and Augustine, which help us understand the history of our faith.
The Bible, the most important book in the history of everything, is nonfiction. But even within its pages, there is a diversity of genres from histories and narratives to poetry, prophetic uses of similes and metaphors, and personal correspondence. We must first and foremost be familiar and intimate with Scripture, but also see how we can read other things in similar genres and glorify God. Reading 1 and 2 Samuel is reading the biographies of the first great kings of Israel. Similarly, we can and should read biographies of leaders from today, like Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, and many others, because they help instruct us on the way we should go, and in most cases, the way we should not go (Prov 22:6).
One of the battle cries of The Reformation was semper reformanda, or “always reforming.” It is hard to reform yourself if you aren’t willing to learn and be taught. Kevin DeYoung says, “Semper reformanda is not about constant fluctuations, but about firm foundations. It is about radical adherence to the Holy Scriptures, no matter the cost to ourselves, our traditions, or our own fallible sense of cultural relevance … Stand your ground, hold fast, guard the good deposit. And be open to change whenever we drift from the truth or fail to grow up in it as we should.”
Reading is Worship
The biggest struggle for most fiction-only readers may be that they think nonfiction is dry and boring. It certainly can be, but it also depends on your goal for reading and the posture from which you approach reading. We are repeatedly called to seek wisdom, insight, and knowledge through the idiomatic proverbs of Solomon. You can get real truth from fiction, but you won't gain the knowledge and understanding required to love the Lord your God with all your mind if you read only fiction. Nonfiction is where we grow as sages and learn to cultivate our lives and our family’s life in the wisdom of the Lord.
If our chief end is to love God and enjoy him forever, and everything we do should be done to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31), then if we read, we should read to enjoy God. Likewise, just as you worship God by enjoying fiction, you should also worship God by learning through nonfiction. Sometimes worshiping God is hard to do. I get it. But we should discipline ourselves for godliness (1 Tim 4:6-8), and that includes using our minds rightly.
Where to Start
If you have been a lifelong fiction-only reader and are looking for a good place to start with nonfiction, let me make a few Christ-oriented suggestions.
Study theology. R.C. Sproul’s Everyone’s a Theologian is a very readable introduction to the doctrines of the church. There are many more systematic theology textbooks out there, but Sproul’s conversational tone makes this a great starting point to learn more about doctrine.
Pick up a commentary. You should be making a regular habit of reading your Bible. A great way to supplement your learning in Scripture is to pick up a solid commentary on the book you are reading. Bestcommentaries.com is where I go to review which commentary I may want to purchase. Among the rankings, they have tags that tell you if a commentary is technical, pastoral, or devotional in focus. Not all that glitters is gold, however, and some commentaries are more orthodox than others, so do your homework and read reviews. I prefer the Tyndale Old/New Testament Commentaries or anything available through Pillar Commentaries because they are consistently solid theologically, pastoral, and devotional in their focus.
Peruse a Puritan Paperback. Evangelical, Protestant, and Reformed churches owe a great deal to the puritans, despite the bad press they get in high school English classes. These men had conviction, and many endured their version of cancel culture, and even prison, for holding to their gospel-centered beliefs. They remain great fathers in our faith and deserve reading. My three favorites are Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed, John Owen’s war cry in The Mortification of Sin, and Thomas Brooks’ Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices.
Whatever you read, make reading nonfiction another tool in your toolbox for worshiping the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Keep reforming!