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What is the benefit of reading science fiction?
=== I chose this topic because it is a genre that I rarely read and know very little about, so I was curious to see what benefits I could find in reading it. As with all the genres, the characters and settings need to be credible and well-developed. With science fiction and modern fantasy in general, the authors ask us to suspend disbelief and use our imaginations to understand their different views of a world that could exist if conditions were different. Science fiction can be defined as “a literary fantasy involving the imagined impact of science on society.” The benefits of reading science fiction are that it offers readers a different perspective on ordinary life, which in turn may change the way one sees the world. Because we live in a world that is constantly changing due to science and technology, it benefits us to be able to learn about discoveries and new inventions and to see how people learn to deal with the changes that these new technologies bring. Science fiction also encourages us to think about possible future worlds and how we might live in them. In //The Giver,// by Lois Lowry, we learn of a future world where people have no emotions or conscience and everyone is equal. When the main character discovers the unsettling truth of his world, it causes us to reconsider many of our own beliefs and to ponder difficult questions about how we think the world should be. Often times, science fiction is set on a different planet, so we have a chance to explore an unknown, possible planet and to imagine what life might be like there. In //A Wrinkle in Time,// Madeleine L’Engle brings us a family that is battling evil on a distant planet. For L’Engle, writing science fiction is a way to keep hope alive in a world that is filled with chaos. For her, it is a way to find “some meaning, some shape and pattern in all of this.” Many children love science fiction because their imaginations are big enough to accept new ideas about how our world could be. Because they find it so exciting, they will be learning something about science and possibly more eager to sit down and read, which would be the biggest benefit of all. Donna E. Norton, //Through the Eyes of a Child, An Introduction to Children’s Literature.// Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1999. [|www.Io9.com], The 20 Science Fiction Novels That Will Change Your Life. [|www.treitel.org]. Definitions of what Science Fiction is and is not. [|www.google.com]. Definition of Science Fiction. ===