Itpdx's review
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf
This is a fascinating book about reading. First Wolf tells us how reading and writing arose and evolved. Then she takes us through the brain of a child as it learns to read. Next she shows us what a "differently organized" (dyslexic) brain teaches us. Lastly Wolf tries to decide what this means to us as we start gathering information and communicating digitally.
Some interesting things that I learned: readers of different writing systems use some different parts of their brains when reading; the brain changes as we learn to read; the brains of dyslexic readers develop differently when they learn to read.
I found this book a challenging read. Lots of new vocabulary for me--I am not sure I have my phonemes and graphemes straight. And all of sudden I found I was reading self-consciously--how often do I backtrack? how far ahead am I previewing visually? which phrases flow? etc.--as I learned more about how fluent readers read.
I recommend this book to teachers...more
Some interesting things that I learned: readers of different writing systems use some different parts of their brains when reading; the brain changes as we learn to read; the brains of dyslexic readers develop differently when they learn to read.
I found this book a challenging read. Lots of new vocabulary for me--I am not sure I have my phonemes and graphemes straight. And all of sudden I found I was reading self-consciously--how often do I backtrack? how far ahead am I previewing visually? which phrases flow? etc.--as I learned more about how fluent readers read.
I recommend this book to teachers...more
