In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans don't read enough, they say, or they don't read the right books in the right way.
In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that contrary to o ...
In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans don't read enough, they say, or they don't read the right books in the right way.
In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that contrary to opinion, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of dedicated readers who support hundreds of huge bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's book club is very influential, and a recent NEA survey shows that reading literary fiction has increased. However, Jacobs' interactions with students and readers of his books suggest that many readers lack confidence. They do not know if they are reading well, with proper concentration and precision, with sufficient caution and discernment. Many have absorbed the sincere message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you—the intellectual equivalent of eating Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers simple, powerful, and much-needed advice: read for passion, read what makes you happy, and do so without shame, whether it's Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible.
Taking the methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, responsive reading, rereading, and reading on electronic devices.
Invitingly written with equal measures of wit and insight, The Pleasure of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they are beginners looking for direction or old hands looking to recapture the joys of reading that once existed. They experienced it for the first time in childhood.
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