In fact they are more smart people among those who read books than their are among people who do not read.

But their aren't many people who can smell really smell/taste/see the things they read about as if they were reality. If there were reading a cooking book would help people to lose wight.
But for most people their is quite a difference between reading about a meal and eating it physical as well as mental.

So it is easier to take something that is already reality.