Critical reading is important. It's a form of language analysis, involving a deeper examination of the text and the ideas for better comprehension. This means the reader should always keep an open mind, read slower than usual, pay extra attention, take notes and try to put himself in the shoes of the author's target audience.
One of the most obvious benefits of critical reading is that it is an amazing workout for our brains. By getting more involved in the text and analyzing more aspects of the language, more areas of our brain are being activated and our brains develop better and faster.
Reading critically has a positive effect on how much, how well and how quickly we understand what we read. It implies a level of involvement in the activity of reading that doesn't allow us to skip any unknown words, any connections to other events the author is making. No stone is left unturned.
In critical reading any thought, idea or concept expressed by the author needs to be observed, judged and carefully analyzed. The same mental process is involved in critical thinking. Being able to distinguish between real and fake news for example is absolutely essential nowadays. That is the power of critical thinking and critical reading is therefore a great means to an end.
In critical reading it is not unusual for a reader to go over the same paragraph several times to make sure all the information is understood. A critical reader will often take notes in order to structure the gathered information. This process in turn tricks our brain into remembering a lot more information than you would through regular reading.
Given its strong connection to critical thinking, the benefits of critical reading extend over a much larger spectrum: better decision making, a clearer mind, crisper（清晰的）logic and even an ability to solve problems faster, better and with less effort.
