A Reader on Reading

Author: Alberto Manguel
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300163045
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
In this major collection of his essays, Alberto Manguel, whom George Steiner has called “the Casanova of reading,” argues that the activity of reading, in its broadest sense, defines our species. “We come into the world intent on finding narrative in everything,” writes Manguel, “landscape, the skies, the faces of others, the images and words that our species create.” Reading our own lives and those of others, reading the societies we live in and those that lie beyond our borders, reading the worlds that lie between the covers of a book are the essence of A Reader on Reading. The thirty-nine essays in this volume explore the crafts of reading and writing, the identity granted to us by literature, the far-reaching shadow of Jorge Luis Borges, to whom Manguel read as a young man, and the links between politics and books and between books and our bodies. The powers of censorship and intellectual curiosity, the art of translation, and those “numinous memory palaces we call libraries” also figure in this remarkable collection. For Manguel and his readers, words, in spite of everything, lend coherence to the world and offer us “a few safe places, as real as paper and as bracing as ink,” to grant us room and board in our passage.

The Library at Night

Author: Alberto Manguel
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307370275
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 355

Book Description
In the tradition of A History of Reading, this book is an account of Manguel’s astonishment at the variety, beauty and persistence of our efforts to shape the world and our lives, most notably through something almost as old as reading itself: libraries. The Library at Night begins with the design and construction of Alberto Manguel’s own library at his house in western France – a process that raises puzzling questions about his past and his reading habits, as well as broader ones about the nature of categories, catalogues, architecture and identity. Thematically organized and beautifully illustrated, this book considers libraries as treasure troves and architectural spaces; it looks on them as autobiographies of their owners and as statements of national identity. It examines small personal libraries and libraries that started as philanthropic ventures, and analyzes the unending promise – and defects – of virtual ones. It compares different methods of categorization (and what they imply) and libraries that have built up by chance as opposed to by conscious direction. In part this is because this is about the library at night, not during the day: this book takes in what happens after the lights go out, when the world is sleeping, when books become the rightful owners of the library and the reader is the interloper. Then all daytime order is upended: one book calls to another across the shelves, and new alliances are created across time and space. And so, as well as the best design for a reading room and the makeup of Robinson Crusoe’s library, this book dwells on more "nocturnal" subjects: fictional libraries like those carried by Count Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster; shadow libraries of lost and censored books; imaginary libraries of books not yet written. The Library at Night is a fascinating voyage through the mind of one our most beloved men of letters. It is an invitation into his memory and vast knowledge of books and civilizations, and throughout – though mostly implicitly – it is also a passionate defence of literacy, of the unique pleasures of reading, of the importance of the book. As much as anything else, The Library at Night reminds us of what a library stands for: the possibility of illumination, of a better path for our society and for us as individuals. That hope too, at the close, is replaced by something that fits this personal and eclectic book even better: something more fragile, and evanescent than illumination, though just as important.

How to Read a Book

Author: Mortimer J. Adler
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476790159
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
Investigates the art of reading by examining each aspect of reading, problems encountered, and tells how to combat them.

You Are a Reader! / You Are a Writer!

Author: April Jones Prince
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0823446255
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Two rhyming books in one that inspire and encourage children who are learning to read and write. You are a Reader! / You are a Writer! is a book made to be read twice, once from the front and once from the back. Read one way, children will see all the joys that reading can bring--flip it over and they'll be inspired by the imaginative possibilities of writing! With a jaunty rhyme that’s great for reading aloud and a diverse cast of characters at various stages of reading and writing, there is something for everyone here. Learning to read? Scan, sound, simmer, think. You can guzzle words and ink. You might stumble, you might sigh. But readers practice, grow, and fly! Learning to write? Wake, watch, wonder, plot. You can weave with words and thoughts. Still staring at an empty page? Every writer knows that stage. Ask "What if?" Change your view. Try a pen--or stick--that's new. But writers read and draft, and fly! Throughout the book are suggestions for where to find inspiration for reading and writing and different ways to move on if you are discouraged. Christine Davenier's energetic illustrations add to the fun in this true celebration of what it means to be a reader and a writer, no matter how accomplished you are or aren't. Praise for Snowy Race "A girl gets to ride on her dad's giant snowplow in this delightful rhyming tale. They race through the heavy snow, but it's not clear where they're going until they arrive at the train station. . . Prince's (What Do Wheels Do All Day?) text is intriguingly spare, letting Davenier's (The First Thing My Mama Told Me) softly exuberant wintertime scenes shine." --The New York Times Rhyming, minimal text coupled with fetching illustrations by Davenier expertly convey the exhilarating drama of entering into a snowstorm as well as the comfy feelings of being in a warm house while the weather is frightful. --School Library Journal A winning, winter race. --Kirkus Reviews

How to Raise a Reader

Author: Pamela Paul
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
ISBN: 1523505303
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
An indispensable guide to welcoming children—from babies to teens—to a lifelong love of reading, written by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo, editors of The New York Times Book Review. Do you remember your first visit to where the wild things are? How about curling up for hours on end to discover the secret of the Sorcerer’s Stone? Combining clear, practical advice with inspiration, wisdom, tips, and curated reading lists, How to Raise a Reader shows you how to instill the joy and time-stopping pleasure of reading. Divided into four sections, from baby through teen, and each illustrated by a different artist, this book offers something useful on every page, whether it’s how to develop rituals around reading or build a family library, or ways to engage a reluctant reader. A fifth section, “More Books to Love: By Theme and Reading Level,” is chockful of expert recommendations. Throughout, the authors debunk common myths, assuage parental fears, and deliver invaluable lessons in a positive and easy-to-act-on way.

Atomic Habits

Author: James Clear
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735211299
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 20 million copies sold! Translated into 60+ languages! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; design your environment to make success easier; get back on track when you fall off course; ...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

The Lantern

Author: Deborah Lawrenson
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062049712
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Book Description
“A whirlwind love affair, a wife who dies under mysterious circumstances, and a string of murder—and ghosts!—all set in a crumbling countryside estate in Provence. This haunting tale is everything you could want in a Gothic mystery that doesn’t also include a heroine named Jane Eyre.” — Redbook Set in the lush countryside of Provence, Deborah Lawrenson’s The Lantern is an atmospheric modern gothic tale of love, suspicion, and murder, in the tradition of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Drawn to a confident and artistic wealthy older man she barely knows, bookish Eve recklessly embarks on a whirlwind affair that soon offers a new life and a new home—Les Genévriers, a charming yet decaying hamlet nestled amid the fragrant lavender fields of Provence. But with autumn’s arrival the days begin to cool—and so, too, does Dom. Though Eve knows he bears the emotional scars of a failed marriage—which he refuses to talk about—his silence arouses suspicion and uncertainty. And, like its owner, Les Genévriers is also changing. Bright, warm rooms have turned cold and uninviting; shadows now fall unexpectedly; and Eve senses a presence moving through the garden. Is it a ghost from the past—or a manifestation of her current troubles with Dom? Can she trust Dom—or could her life truly be in danger? An evocative tale of romantic and psychological suspense, The Lantern masterfully melds past and present, secrets and lies, appearances and disappearances—along with our age-old fear of the dark.

The Reader

Author: Bernhard Schlink
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0375726977
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany. "A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." —Los Angeles Times When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover—then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.

Teaching Readers (Not Reading)

Author: Peter Afflerbach
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462548644
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
Reading instruction is too often grounded in a narrowly defined "science of reading" that focuses exclusively on cognitive skills and strategies. Yet cognition is just one aspect of reading development. This book guides K–8 educators to understand and address other scientifically supported factors that influence each student's literacy learning, including metacognition, motivation and engagement, social–emotional learning, self-efficacy, and more. Peter Afflerbach uses classroom vignettes to illustrate the broad-based nature of student readers’ growth, and provides concrete suggestions for instruction and assessment. The book's utility is enhanced by end-of-chapter review questions and activities and a reproducible tool, the Healthy Readers Profile, which can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Reader, Come Home

Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062388797
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
The author of the acclaimed Proust and the Squid follows up with a lively, ambitious, and deeply informative book that considers the future of the reading brain and our capacity for critical thinking, empathy, and reflection as we become increasingly dependent on digital technologies. A decade ago, Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid revealed what we know about how the brain learns to read and how reading changes the way we think and feel. Since then, the ways we process written language have changed dramatically with many concerned about both their own changes and that of children. New research on the reading brain chronicles these changes in the brains of children and adults as they learn to read while immersed in a digitally dominated medium. Drawing deeply on this research, this book comprises a series of letters Wolf writes to us—her beloved readers—to describe her concerns and her hopes about what is happening to the reading brain as it unavoidably changes to adapt to digital mediums. Wolf raises difficult questions, including: Will children learn to incorporate the full range of "deep reading" processes that are at the core of the expert reading brain? Will the mix of a seemingly infinite set of distractions for children’s attention and their quick access to immediate, voluminous information alter their ability to think for themselves? With information at their fingertips, will the next generation learn to build their own storehouse of knowledge, which could impede the ability to make analogies and draw inferences from what they know? Will all these influences change the formation in children and the use in adults of "slower" cognitive processes like critical thinking, personal reflection, imagination, and empathy that comprise deep reading and that influence both how we think and how we live our lives? How can we preserve deep reading processes in future iterations of the reading brain? Concerns about attention span, critical reasoning, and over-reliance on technology are never just about children—Wolf herself has found that, though she is a reading expert, her ability to read deeply has been impacted as she has become increasingly dependent on screens. Wolf draws on neuroscience, literature, education, and philosophy and blends historical, literary, and scientific facts with down-to-earth examples and warm anecdotes to illuminate complex ideas that culminate in a proposal for a biliterate reading brain. Provocative and intriguing, Reader, Come Home is a roadmap that provides a cautionary but hopeful perspective on the impact of technology on our brains and our most essential intellectual capacities—and what this could mean for our future.