The Art of Reading

A beautiful celebratory tribute to the powers of one of our most undervalued skills ― an ideal gift for the avid reader. ‘What you are doing right now is, cosmically speaking, against the odds.’

As young children, we are taught to read, but soon go on to forget just how miraculous a process it is, this turning of scratches and dots into understanding, unease and inspiration. Perhaps we need to stop and remember, stop and learn again how to read better. Damon Young shows us how to do exactly this, walking alongside some of the greatest readers who light a path for us ― Borges, Plato, Woolf. Young reads passionately, selectively, surprisingly ― from superhero noir to speculative realism, from Heidegger to Heinlein ― and shows his reader how cultivating their inner critic can expand their own lives as well as the lives of those on the pages of the books they love.

“Serious, witty, and fun.”

— Publishers Weekly

Review by 1000 Libraries

In an age where we consume content with the frantic pace of a starving person at a buffet, Damon Young’s The Art of Reading arrives as a much-needed manual for the soul. Young, a philosopher by trade, does not treat reading as a passive hobby or a mere data transfer protocol. Instead, he invites us to view it as a virtue. It is a disciplined, creative, and transformative act that demands as much from the reader as it did from the writer.

Young’s thesis is refreshingly rigorous. Reading is not something that happens to us. It is something we do. He meticulously breaks down the traits required to be a truly great reader, such as patience, courage, pride, and even justice. By weaving together the habits of literary giants like Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges, and Henry James, Young demonstrates that how we engage with a page is a direct reflection of how we engage with the world.

The beauty of this book lies in its ability to make the act of sitting still feel like an adventure. Young argues that to read well is to develop a refined attention. This is a way of seeing through the eyes of another that dissolves the ego and expands our moral imagination. He does not just want you to finish a book. He wants the book to finish its work in you. If you have ever felt that your reading life has become a chore of ticking off must-read lists, Young will remind you why you fell in love with the printed word in the first place.

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“A beautifully written and thoughtfully constructed ode to the inner worlds opened up by the page, and the role of reading in the discovery and development of the self. The Art of Reading is just what I needed to remind me I am neither alone—nor irrational—in my bibliophilia.”

Tara Moss

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“The Art of Reading is not just another bibliomemoir; it is also a manifesto of sorts…[Young’s] ambitious goal is to re-enchant an activity which, “cosmically speaking”, is very much “against the odds”.”

The Irish Times

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"For Damon Young, writers are like secret agents gone rogue, grabbing us by the lapels and inviting us into a realm of delicious ambiguity. The Art of Reading is an intimately conspiratorial book—erudite, surprising, and persuasive.”

Henry Hatchings, author of Browse: The World in Bookshops

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The Art of Reading