The Festival
Engaging with other people’s stories brings us new understandings of health. Research has also shown that reading can reduce stress and lead to improvements in well-being.
Led by Ben Alderson-Day, this Site in the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities reimagines the Edinburgh International Book Festival as a space of research and experimentation. Its focus is on the design and piloting of ReaderBank: the world’s most ambitious study of reading, imagination and well-being.
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ReaderBank: What kind of reader are you?
Ben Alderson-Day talks about ReaderBank: a collaboration between Durham University & Edinburgh International Book Festival exploring the experience of reading and its effect on how we live.
Like other big databank projects – such as the BioBank – the ReaderBank will create an open-source database of the experiences, habits, and preferences of readers over several years. This will enable us to observe the long-term effects of reading and the role it plays in our everyday lives, allowing for exciting new insights into the mysteries of the reading mind.
Nick Barley
Former Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival
Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities
Institute for Medical Humanities
Durham University
Confluence Building
Lower Mountjoy
Stockton Road
Durham
DH1 3LE
T. +44(0)191 334 8277