Academic reading: is there anything beyond books and articles?

Abstract

This essay aims to question the traditional view that limits legal education to the exclusive reading of dense and convoluted academic texts, proposing that other forms of informal reading —such as fanfiction, popular novels, and audiobooks— can contribute to the development of critical thinking and reading skills in law students. Methodologically, it carries out a critical review that contrasts the comprehension difficulties generated by legal texts with the cognitive advantages of vernacular narratives. Specific examples are examined: fanfiction as a laboratory for narrative experimentation and social questioning; novels such as The Hunger Games and Mo Dao Zu Shi, where ethical and political dilemmas analogous to legal problems arise; and audiobooks as a tool to democratize access to knowledge. The results indicate that informal reading develops specific skills: fluent reading comprehension, factual sequence reconstruction, investigative drive, and cognitive empathy —competences that legal positivism marginalized in the 20th century by separating law from the humanities. In conclusion, it proposes abandoning the question of what students read and focusing on what they learn, recognizing that knowledge depends not on format but on critical analysis. Academia should build bridges between professional critical readings and ordinary narratives.