Editorials & Other Articles

NJCher

(38,186 posts)

10. There is someone who wrote a book about reading books

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 09:55 PM

Oct 9

He was featured on our local NPR in the last few days. I tried to find the link to the interview but couldn't. I might think of it and if I do I will be back to post it.

Anyway, they talked about this Atlantic article and also this person's effort to get people to go back to reading full-length books.

It was very, very interesting, especially to me as an English teacher.

A long time ago, and I mean only about 4 years after we'd had the internet, the NY Times published interviews with professors who had noticed their own reading curtailed because of the way the internet disrupts attention. It has to do with the little seratonin boost the brain gets from doing a click. As soon as I read that, I began a program for myself of sustaining attention to long written pieces. It's been very, very hard.

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Highlight:

The Elite College Students Who Can't Read Books [View all] Passages Oct 8 OP

I went to high school in a small town Vegan4life Oct 8 #1

They prepare them for the standardized tests. Passages Oct 8 #6

Oh boy. The nation is in trouble. Students can't/don't want to read... brush Oct 8 #2

About 10 years ago or more I read an article where novelist Philip Roth appalachiablue Oct 8 #3

It is troubling. Passages Oct 8 #5

It sounds like they may have been taught to focus too much on minute details. Jim__ Oct 8 #4

Many of today's teachers got their education under Dubya's "No Child Left Behind" program FakeNoose Oct 8 #7

It's very sad. So many factors at play here. My wife and I used to read so many books, we have huge bookshelves LymphocyteLover Oct 9 #8

I was a Russian major in the very late '70s and early '80s. Igel Oct 9 #9

There is someone who wrote a book about reading books NJCher Oct 9 #10

Thank you, I would appreciate the link. Passages Oct 10 #12

How about these professors choosing more relevant, modern books? Elessar Zappa Oct 10 #11