Reading, the Next Hot Trend – How Books and Brains Become Fashionable

Culture FashionNovember 27, 2025

The Reading Trend: Why Books Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The return of reading might be the most unexpected trend of 2025. From Miu Miu’s Literary Club in Shanghai to Gen Z turning libraries into social sanctuaries, books are suddenly the most desirable objects in a world dominated by artificial intelligence.

A recent MIT Media Lab study, reported by the Harvard Gazette, warns that excessive reliance on AI-driven solutions may contribute to “cognitive atrophy”. The study is small and not yet peer-reviewed, but its message lands with force in our hyper-automated reality. Even AI acknowledges the paradox. When asked whether it makes us smarter or dumber, ChatGPT answered: “It depends on how we engage with it: as a crutch or a tool for growth.”

Which means that the danger isn’t the machine. The danger is abandoning our own thinking.

And this is why reading has become essential; culturally, intellectually, even spiritually.

Actress Li Gengxi performance reading at Miiu MIu Literary Club in Sanghai

Actress Li Gengxi’s performance reading at Miiu MIu Literary Club in Shanghai

Reading: The Ultimate Mental Workout

It expands creativity

Books offer nuance, contradictions, metaphors, and intellectual tension, the raw material that algorithms can’t produce on their own.

It preserves critical thinking

A good book forces you to analyse, question, connect ideas, and recognise bias. That muscle atrophies without practice.

It makes you a better AI user

AI rewards depth. Readers ask better questions, build stronger prompts, and know when the answer lacks context or accuracy.

Reading doesn’t compete with AI; it elevates your collaboration with it.

Why Gen Z Is Leading the Reading Trend

Despite the stereotype of short attention spans, Gen Z is embracing reading with unexpected passion. Book sales are up, bookstores are packed, and reading nights are replacing endless scrolling.

Why?
Because this generation is craving:

silence
depth
self-examination
a break from algorithmic overstimulation

Books offer a space where the mind can breathe again.

Miu Miu’s Literary Club taps into this beautifully, although its current list leans heavily left. True intellectual growth demands breadth. Fashion should encourage curiosity, not limit it.

So here is a balanced, deeply relevant reading list to accompany this cultural moment.

Miu Miu Literary Club_Reading Performance_Zhao Jinmai

Actress Zhao Jinmai’s performance reading at Miiu MIu Literary Club in Shanghai

The Essential Reading List for the New Reading Trend

A balanced, mind-expanding library to sharpen your creativity and critical thinking.

A Conflict of Visions – Thomas Sowell How political ideologies emerge from two opposing views of human nature.
The Human Condition – Hannah Arendt A profound examination of labour, action and political agency in the modern world.
Gravity and Grace – Simone Weil Mysticism and ethics woven into a radical reflection on suffering and transcendence.
The Abolition of Man – C.S. Lewis A concise, powerful critique of moral relativism and the erosion of objective values.
The Burnout Society & The Transparency Society – Byung-Chul Han Two sharp essays on exhaustion culture and how forced transparency destroys intimacy and freedom.
The Road to Serfdom – F. A. Hayek A classic warning on how centralised planning can slide into authoritarianism.
The Confessions – Saint Augustine A timeless spiritual autobiography about desire, doubt, faith and conversion.
Return of the God Hypothesis – Stephen C. Meyer An argument that modern scientific discoveries point toward an intelligent Creator.
The Republic – Plato A foundational dialogue on justice, education and the making of a virtuous society.
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations – David S. Landes A sweeping history of why some nations prosper while others stagnate.
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization – Thomas E. Woods A reassessment of the Church’s role in science, law, education, art and human rights.

Books as the New Cultural Currency

Fashion has always loved intellect, from school-girl aesthetics to scholarly glasses, but this moment is different. Books aren’t props; they’re signals of curiosity, autonomy, and depth.

In an age of automated content, the reader stands out.
A well-read mind feels increasingly rare, almost luxurious.

Miu Miu Literary Club_Reading Performance_Liu Haocun

Actress Liu Haocun’s performance reading at Miiu MIu Literary Club in Shanghai

Final Thought: The Brain Is the Real It-Bag

AI can mimic many things: style, tone, even taste, but it cannot reproduce the mind of someone who reads widely, thinks freely, and questions everything.

That is the true Reading Trend.
And it might be the most fashionable one yet.

Images courtesy @MiuMiu