I stole that line from Martha Plimpton, who just tweeted it about a piece I wrote - about a study that found that reading literary fiction helps you become more empathetic and improves your emotional intelligence.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10...Read the story and take our quiz.
They didn't look at narrative nonfiction, the genre of "Island Practice" - I'd love to know what they'd find if they did.