The Pyramid of Reading (2)

And this is what you get at the beginning of  Ms Wolf's book:

Can you see anything in common?

 

 

 

 

The Pyramid of Reading

This is what you get from a quick search on the Internet.

Are we biologically meant for reading?

Simple answer: apparently not, since we need to learn how to read in our own language and, if we feel like, in others (second time usually easier than the first one).

 

'Old-fashioned practice at connecting letters to sounds is replaced by immersion in a text-rich social environment, and the children don't learn to read' claims Steven Pinker in 'How the mind works', 1998

So we do need a stimulus and a training to start our journey. During the journey 'the biological and intellectual transformations brought about by reading provide a remarkable petri dish for examining how we think', according to Maryanne Wolf in 'Proust and the Squid', 2007.

Let's see .....

Do you read?

Well, this is an awkward question, because we tend to understand it as 

'Do you read books?' 

and then, saying yes or no to that question can be troubling.

But, a rrreaaallly BIG but, the real  answer should be YES, we normally read.

The what, where and when isn't quite important, what is paramount is that we need to understand what we read, no matter what, where and when we happen to read.

So meaning is important and understanding the meaning even more so: here we start a 'journey' into what defines meaning, what defines the written message and the need for communication that defines everybody.