Philip Hensher

It [fiction] allows us to see the world from the point of view of someone else and there has been quite a lot of neurological research that shows reading novels is actually good for you. It embeds you in society and makes you think about other people. People are certainly better at all sorts of things if they can hold a novel in their heads. It is quite a skill, but if you can't do it then you're missing out on something in life. I think you can tell, when you meet someone, whether they read novels or not. There is some little hollowness if they don't.

I think you can tell when you meet someone whether they read novels. There's some hollowness if they don't.

It happened to some people, that obsession with throwing their clothes off at an age when it would be best to keep them on.