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It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

theatlantic.com

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Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#291

Post by cheschire »

vincent-manis wrote: post #263
bkandel wrote: post #174

> Margaret Rennix, Harvard’s assistant director for humanities and social-sciences support, told me she’d spoken with a student who was struggling to read a book written in Old English. The culprit: Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange. (The student used ChatGPT to “translate” the book into easier language.) Has the author read A Clockwork Orange? It is filled with made-up "slang" that's basically just Rus…

Burgess reputedly disliked the American edition's inclusion of a glossary. I'm in partial agreement with that.The right way to read it is to let the language flow over you, and you gradually start making sense of it. The glossary is useful in demonstrating how brilliantly constructed the Nadsat language is, especially the words derived from Russian: horrorshow from khorosho, good; lewdies from lyudi, people; and star…

Trainspotting was like this for me.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#292

Post by tolerance »

senordevnyc wrote: post #285
tolerance wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good idea to consider might be what Hans Magnus Enzensberger referred to as "second-order illiteracy". > [The second-order illiterate] has come a long way: his loss of memory causes him no suffering; his lack of will makes life easy for him; he values his inability to concentrate; he considers it an advantage that he neither knows nor understands what is happening to him. He is mobile. He is adaptive. He has a tale…

What an incredibly off-putting and pretentious way to view what probably constitutes the majority of your fellow humans.

Try reading the entire thing.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#293

Post by AngryData »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #279
smcg wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very difficult with our notification-based lifestyles. Either I allow myself to be interrupted or I come back to missed messages and calls.

Man... If the call is important, they can leave a message. And text messages are designed to be async. Anybody who thinks they own my time better be paying me big $$. I refuse to be a slave to a device in my pocket.

Yeah, I treat my phone like a landline phone. If I don't answer right away then you gotta leave a message and ill see it when I have a break to check it or not.

Im not sure being available 24/7 365 by everybody for every reason is mentally healthy.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#294

Post by phil21 »

criddell wrote: post #12
mathgeek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you also run into the attention deficit effect of all these short forms of media? Overriding my brain's desire to put a book down after a couple pages is certainly not my favorite pastime.

Part of that might be your book choice. I found that when trying to rekindle my reading habit, book choice had a big effect. Some books are like vegetables you know you should eat but really don't want to and other books are junk food. Empty calories that you love. Pick from the latter pile at first and rebuild the muscle.

Yep. When I need to get back into reading again I usually start with some easy to read pulp.

My go-to is “trash” military sci-fi. Usually from authors who pump out a book or two a year in the genre.

Honor Harrington (Honorverse) is my general go-to, although these days I’m caught up so I’ve started a few others like it.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#295

Post by bluGill »

breezybottom wrote: post #164
bluGill wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't hard to learn how to read at a basic level.

Sure, if you have books in your house and parents who are also literate and encouraging of it.

Books are needed to be good, but just writing a simple letter once in a while when you have time is useful and not that hard.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#296

Post by specproc »

etrautmann wrote: post #284
everdrive wrote: post #155

You would be surprised just how quickly you can re-learn the focus to enjoy long-form writing and novels. Much like exercise, don't let your ego get in the way. Find something you enjoy, even if it's a bit trash, and just make it a habit. Like with everything you do regularly, your brain will get better at it, the habit will become more automatic, and you'll find yourself wanting to read more, and more often. It's ve…

Is this real? I spend plenty of time online but have no problem still reading books. I don’t know anyone else who stopped reading books either. I’m 41 so maybe this affects people who grew up with social media but I can’t quite tell how hyperbolic the descriptions of the problem are.

42 and frayed. Lifelong reader who really has to remind himself constantly to read.

It's my greatest pleasure and a great source of pride, but God, do my electronic devices interfere.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#297

Post by ramijames »

dash2 wrote: post #142
ramijames wrote: post #140

My kids are active, voracious readers. At least one book (500-700 pages) a week. It feels like one of the only things that I've really done right as a parent.

How did you do it?

We read to them from a very young age, and kept doing it. They are 13, 11, and 7 now and we still read books together every night for the littlest one, and most nights for the older two. My wife loves doing it and finds that it is solid bonding time.

We also instilled in them that it's a good thing for people to do on their own, and have slowly been providing them guidance on what "good literature" is by providing a constant stream of recommendations. We let them choose whatever they want, of course, and don't for anything on them. They are in total control.

Beyond that, we've taught them that the library is a nice place to just hang out. It's quiet, safe, and theirs as much as anybody else's. We are stuck living in a tiny apartment in a city in the US, and for them being able to just go to the library and have time to themselves is a positive for everyone.

Lastly, we've tried to give them a sense that language itself is fun and beautiful. Lots of word games. Lots of learning weird, esoteric words that nobody else seems to know. They get a kick out of it and so do we.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#298

Post by specproc »

bkandel wrote: post #174

> Margaret Rennix, Harvard’s assistant director for humanities and social-sciences support, told me she’d spoken with a student who was struggling to read a book written in Old English. The culprit: Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange. (The student used ChatGPT to “translate” the book into easier language.) Has the author read A Clockwork Orange? It is filled with made-up "slang" that's basically just Rus…

I was around fourteen when I read A Clockwork Orange and worked it out fine. I think the author's point stands.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#299

Post by jjk166 »

lapcat wrote: post #60
apparent wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading an entire book takes much more time than placing an online bet.

> Reading an entire book takes much more time than placing an online bet. Yes, but do you only do things for pleasure if they're done quickly? Is your sex always over in a minute? Also, I was responding to this: > Likewise, reading for pleasure "on any given day" is a totally different measure than "placed a bet last year". Yes, reading for pleasure "on any given day" is a different measure than "placed a bet last ye…

> Yes, but do you only do things for pleasure if they're done quickly? Is your sex always over in a minute?

You do things for pleasure more often if they're done quickly. When was the last time you had a lovemaking session so long you could have read a book in the time?

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