The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Literacy, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Books & Reading, Health & Well Being, Self Help
Cover of the book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alan Jacobs ISBN: 9780199831678
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: May 26, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Alan Jacobs
ISBN: 9780199831678
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: May 26, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. 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. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more 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, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. 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. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more 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, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Rising Road by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Discourse and Practice by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Reinventing Depression by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Extreme Politics by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Brothers Among Nations by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Hume's Skeptical Crisis by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book School Social Work by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Epidemiologic Methods by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book The Dialect of Modernism by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Solving Critical Consults by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Minds on Trial by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Patent and Trade Disparities in Developing Countries by Alan Jacobs
Cover of the book Autos And Progress : The Brazilian Search For Modernity by Alan Jacobs
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy