Reading is one of the most significant practices in the modern age of information, but it has a complicated history, explains Adrian Johns.
Scientists began studying reading over a century ago; they built eye movement devices to study how fast and efficiently we read, and even proposed methods on the best ways to teach kids how to read.
All of this well-intentioned science led to various debates, however, from America’s Reading Wars to today’s anti-elite and anti-science movement.
In a new book, The Science of Reading: Information, Media, and Mind in Modern America (University of Chicago Press, 2023), Johns, chair of the history department at the University of Chicago, dives into reading’s complicated history and what we can learn from it to better shape the future of reading:
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Source: University of Chicago
