Reading allows us not only to think in ways that we never would have been able to ourselves but it allows us to read in other people’s thoughts. Stephen King says that reading is telepathy. It is said that an author is truly a good one if they are able to eliminate themselves from their writing. A spell is created where the reader forgets they are reading. However, no matter how good a writer is, writing is essentially a reflection of someone’s thoughts. There is power in this in that it allows the reader to experience what it is like to think and view things in someone else’s imagination. Obviously the telepathy is not 1 to 1 - in that, even with perfect description, two people will not see the same thing reading the same text.
Reading stories is especially good as it can communicate ideas in a way that pure description never can. Stories can communicate a myriad of complex ideas in a way that is subtle and easy to understand. If a story is well written, it will cause the reader to be placed in the position of some of the characters and understand what that experience of the idea is like. Experiencing an idea in the abstract is much more powerful than simply understanding its components.