How does reading play a vital role in the development of the human mind, in reference to "There Is No Frigate Like a Book"?

Emily Dickinson's poem "There Is No Frigate Like a Book" is a perfect vehicle to expound upon the importance of reading to the development of the mind. Dickinson was a recluse, someone who seldom, if ever, left her home, but she developed her own mind through reading and shared this lovely little poem to remind us of its importance. The mind is like a muscle, and the more we read, the stronger our minds become. Reading is a way of developing knowledge and understanding of the world around us and within us. It brings us to places, times, and people we might otherwise never encounter, and it helps us to look within ourselves more deeply, too, as we compare and contrast others with ourselves. Often people will refer to reading as giving us windows and mirrors, to look outside and to look within.

In her poem, Dickinson contrasts reading with various forms of transportation, a "Frigate" (line 1), "Coursers" (line 3), and a "Chariot" (line 7). A frigate is a swift ship, a courser is a fast horse, and a chariot, of course, is an ancient form of transportation, thought to be speedy, although that is a relative term, as a practical matter. Any of these can take us somewhere else, to "Lands away" (line 2). But, Dickinson tells us, books do this even better because they are a "frugal" (line 7) means of travel, meaning that the cost of buying a book, or even borrowing one from a library or a friend, is far less than the cost of actual travel. There are no tolls to be paid, which makes the book a better bargain. Even people who are "the poorest" (line 5) can travel this way.

The last two lines are particularly interesting because I think they could be read two different ways:

How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul (lines 7-8).

I suggest that Dickinson could be speaking of the soul (and the mind) of the reader or the writer in this passage. If a book is a chariot, then it surely bears the soul of the writer. But if the chariot is bearing, that is carrying, the reader, then it is the soul of the reader that is contemplated here.  This ambiguity enriches the poem, I think. The soul and mind of a reader are being developed through the act of reading, and for the writer, it is the writing that is a form of human development of the soul and mind.

The act of reading develops our minds, taking us to settings we could otherwise never experience, allowing us to experience other times, places, and people, and allowing us to contemplate how wonderfully different they may be as well as how soothingly similar they are. Every time we go on a voyage in a book, we are developing our minds and our souls, as Dickinson clearly understood.