The pleasures of reading in an age of distraction
By: Alan Jacobs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 162
ISBN-13: 9780199747498
Copyright date: 2011
Description: The author argues that reading is alive and well in America. Millions of devoted readers support hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. 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, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Yes, we can!; title: Whim; title: All in your head; title: Aspirations; title: Upstream; title: Responsiveness; title: Kindling; title: Slowly, slowly; title: True confessions; title: Lost; title: Abbot Hugh's advice; title: The triumphant return of Adler and Van Doren; title: Plastic attention; title: Getting schooled; title: Quiet, please; title: Once more, with feeling; title: Judge, jury, executioner; title: In solitude, for company; title: Serendip; title: How it all started; title: An essay on sources