Forget the self-help book. What you should be reading instead...

If you’d like to read your way to self-improvement – take a stab at some serious Shakespeare...

Researchers at the University of Liverpool scanned the brain activity of volunteers as they read English literature in both the original form and in a more dumbed-down, modern translation. It turns out the original versions lit up the brain when it encountered unusual words and unfamiliar phrasings. The volunteer readers not only experienced a surge of interest and curiosity during the experiment, they received higher scores in morale and self-confidence after the fact.