So far we have 7 people (counting me) willing to join: debbya sguanzon beth_b_kodiak summerfireflys earthlydelights lilylouise Since this is a busy time of year (kids back to school, squeezing in that summer vacation you meant to take, Labor Day, etc) I will re-post this RR suggestion in mid September. Or maybe even later in the year when garden chores are less pressing. Thoughts? Ideas?

SheriZ6, I thought of Netla and her post the moment I saw that bench in the store! Amazing how we remember people we have never met in real life. Netla, the book I am reading has a chapter on Iceland and one of Greenland, and discusses why one original settlement succeeded while the other eventually did not. I thought of you while reading those, too, wondering what you would say about the conclusion reached by the author Jared Diamond. Some of my antique rose forum people get together in real life. Well, gardening is such a hands-on thing. It would be great if more of us RP members could meet some time. I know some of us have met Jankin, Martin, and several other UK members when travelling. It would be fun to arrange regional get-togethers from time to time.

I don't know about a house made of books, although I do live in a house filled with books. I so want a library in my house. Books are stashed everywhere! Under the bed, in all my storage areas, there is hardly storage for anything else in my house. My husband doesn't really read(only the newspaper!)He cannot understand my obsession with books. I guess I'll have to wait until my boys move out, then I will fill their bedrooms with books! When they come home from college their rooms probably will be made out of books!

People who read live longer than those who don’t, Yale researchers say Posted January 4, 2019 THE BENEFITS OF READING SHOULD NOT BE UNDERSTATED, EVEN WHEN IT COMES TO LIVING A LONGER LIFE. A NEW STUDY FINDS THAT READING BOOKS IN PARTICULAR RETURNS COGNITIVE GAINS THAT INCREASE LONGEVITY. By Laurie Vázquez – Flying Books – NationalReadingGroupMonth.com – homepg_photo_2014b Bookworms rejoice! A new study in the journal Social Science and Medicine just discovered that people who read books live longer than people who don’t. Researchers at Yale University asked 3,635 participants over 50 years-old about their reading habits. From that data, they split the cohort into 3 groups: non-readers, people who read less than 3.5 hours per week, and people who read more than 3.5 hours per week. The researchers followed up with each group for 12 years. The people who read the most were college-educated women in the higher-income group. Over the course of the study, the researchers consistently found that both groups of readers lived longer than the non-readers. The readers who read over 3.5 hours a week lived a full 23 months longer than the people who didn’t read at all. That extended lifespan applied to all reading participants, regardless of “gender, wealth, education or health” factors, the study explains. That’s a 20% reduction in mortality created by a sedentary activity. That’s a big deal, and a very easy fix for improving quality of life in anyone over 50. Credit: Social Science and Medicine The results get better. “Compared to non-book readers,” the authors continue, “book readers had a 4-month survival advantage,” at the age when 20% of their peers passed away. “Book readers also experienced a 20% reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow up compared to non-book readers.” The authors continue: “Further, our analyses demonstrated that any level of book reading gave a significantly stronger survival advantage than reading periodicals. This is a novel finding, as previous studies did not compare types of reading material; it indicates that book reading rather than reading in general is driving a survival advantage.” “Stack ‘o Books” courtesy ABookSource.com The reason books had greater gains than periodicals is because book reading involves more cognitive faculties. The readers didn’t begin with higher cognitive faculties than the non-readers; they simply engaged in the activity of reading, which heightened those faculties. “This finding suggests that reading books provide a survival advantage due to the immersive nature that helps maintain cognitive status,” said the study’s authors. As any book lover knows, reading involves two major cognitive processes: deep reading, and emotional connection. Deep reading is a slow process where the reader engages with the book and seeks to understand it within its own context and within the context of the outside world. Emotional connection is where the reader empathizes with the characters, and that promotes social perception and emotional intelligence. Those cognitive processes were cited by the Yale team and used as markers for this study. While they apparently offer a survival advantage, “better health behaviors and reduced stress may explain this process [as well],” according to the study. Still, those cognitive benefits are real, as writer Nicholas Sparr explains [in a video associated with this article]. All the data was self-reported via phone survey and it didn’t really account for ebooks, but it’s still encouraging. There are no real downsides to reading, other than making the time for it. But if you’re not convinced and would rather have John Green teach you literature instead of reading the classics for yourself, philosopher and Yale University Dean Jeffrey Brenzel lays out 5 additional pro-reading benefits for you [in a video associated with this article]. Happy reading! (For the source of this article, and to watch a couple of videos related to it, please visit: https://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/yale-study-people-who-read-live-longer-than-people-who-dont/)