Reader, Come Home
Draws on the author's extensive research from "Proust and the Squid" to consider the future of the reading brain and its capacity for critical thinking, empathy, and reflection in today's highly digitized world. A decade ago, Wolf's Proust and the Squid revealed what we know about how the brain learns to read and how reading changes the way we think and feel. Now, in a series of letters, Wolf describes her concerns-- and hopes-- about how digital mediums may be changing our brains. Wolf herself has found that her ability to read deeply has been impacted as she becomes increasingly dependent on screens. What could this mean for our future? -- adapted from jacket
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7recommend
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What Hacker News says
- Regarding the feeling of something missing by reading on electronic devices, expressed in a few comments:
Some (not all) answers I was able to find in Maryanne Wolf's book "Reader, Come Home". Main concept there is what she calls deep-reading, a complex back and forth between different brain areas and the hemispheres, that needs time and is replaced by specific forms of skimming on the mentioned devices. In particular, the shift between hemispheres allows for integration into the reader's personal store of knowledge and, more broadly, into their own worldview.
The "wasted" time is essential for memory building and consolidation. Add enforced linear reading without immediate availibility to break the flow by googling/notifications/jumping to whatever, also consider haptics and more. Similar effects can also be found in handwriting vs typing, manual sketching etc.
- I recently read Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf, which makes many similar arguments, and found myself agreeing with this. I've been finding it harder and harder to lose myself in a book, to finish books, to read as I used to read. It's as if the lens through which I view reading and books has shifted - from a way to be thrust into another world, to something to be browsed in short, easy-to-read snippets, like social media but with things like covers and jackets and spines.
I'd also like to note that, while the printed book is certainly not perfect at staying through the ages - something like stone tablets are probably best for that - it's a lot more reliable than online things. Maybe that'll change, but for now, tech companies go out of business a lot more frequently than floods or fires or other disasters strike the average house. And while, if Simon and Schuster go out of business, that doesn't do a thing to the books you have purchased from them, if Amazon goes out of business, there's no guarantee any of your Kindle will be readable anymore.
- Thank you. Wow, Reader, Come Home sounds very interesting! Now I am reading Reading in the Brain, a book that talks about how brain processes reading. Your suggestion it's a great match to follow it. I really like this topic!
Thank!
- I would suggest you read this before you pass a final judgement on books : https://www.amazon.com/Reader-Come-Home-Reading-Digital/dp/0...
- I forgot to add that if you're interested in how our reading is changing, Maryanne Wolf's research is great. Her book 'Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World' gives a great overview of a diverse way of looking at reading. (I haven't read 'Proust and the Squid' yet, by the same author, but I think it touches on similar topics)
According to Wolf, our "reading circuits" are changing on a neurological level, affecting reasoning, critical thinking and even empathy.
On the other hand were getting better at skim reading, quickly sorting through mountains of lower value information.
This article in the Guardian gives a great summary: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-r...
Another good article on the topic, if you happen to prefer French, from Usbec & Rica: https://m.usbeketrica.com/article/a-plus-vous-lisez-en-diago...
(Disclaimer: Both The Guardian and Usbek & Rica are supplying articles for our platform)
- "Reader, Come Home" by Maryanne Wolf is a good book on the topic of how new technology influences our reading habits.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35887237-reader-come-hom...
