Annabelle Rackham

Now, Becca, do you read a lot?

I would love to read more but I don't read very much at the moment.

I read mostly before bed because I feel like it helps me relax and go to sleep.

And today we're talking all about reading.

We'll be hearing from some experts about how reading can change our brains and as usual we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases.

Okay, the longest novel in the world.

I still think 13 million words sounds too many.

So I'm going to go with B, 1.3 million.

But Marianne Wolfe, author of the book Reader Come Home, says that this isn't true.

Let's hear more from psychologist and neuroscientist Rebecca Gottlieb, speaking to the BBC World Service.

So, because we don't have a part of the brain designed specifically for reading, when we learn to read, we co-opt other parts of the brain.

Co-opt here means to include someone or something, often against their will.

And the language we read also shapes our brain.

Chinese characters, for example, use symbols instead of letters of the alphabet to represent words and ideas.

Scientists studied a bilingual man who could read and speak Chinese and English.

The man suffered a stroke which affected parts of his brain, including his ability to read Chinese.

But amazingly, he was still able to read English.

Marianne says that the brain's circuit is shaped by learning to read Chinese.

A circuit is a system of connections.

Marianne describes the symbolic Chinese characters as beautifully intricate.