Is reading under threat? No, says Alan Jacobs―but people do need encouragement to enjoy it to the full. Jacobs’s experience as a lecturer and seasoned author suggests that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus, attentiveness, 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, and indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers 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. He 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 are novices seeking direction or seasoned book lovers looking to recapture the joy of reading they first experienced as children.
