Deep Reading

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📚 Bibliophile’s Corner 📚

Last week, I listened to an interesting podcast on NPR Books hosted by Andrew Limbong on deep reading. The interviewee was Maryanne Wolf, an expert in the science of reading and writer of several books on reading, including her latest, Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World. She talks about how we are not born to read. Reading is an invention and our brains aren’t naturally wired to read the same way they are for speech and vision, so we have to create a ‘program’ or neural pathways ourselves. Even as a former teacher of reading, I never really thought about it in that way.

This book focuses on how we are so overloaded with information, that our brains have become skilled at skimming items instead of deeply reading them. Think about it. How many times do you get interrupted by a ding from one of your devices or even an appliance when you are trying to read? She gives tips on how to practice deep reading. Yes, practice, so your reading and comprehension improve.

One of the things she recommends hits on something I have been struggling with. I don’t feel like I comprehend and remember as much when I read a book on my Kindle, and Ms. Wolf validated my experience by stating that digital reading is not conducive to deep reading. Well, I love a hard copy, but I already have too many books and little shelf space left (Ok, I have NO shelf space left). Luckily, I now live 3 miles away from the Braselton Library, so guess who is going to be getting a new library card? What are your thoughts on digital vs print copy reading?

Speaking of reading, I just got the news that the digital version of the Starlight Coven Summer Issue is now available for instant download. This issue includes an article I wrote on working with the fire element, and other articles on a variety of topics including creating a herbal grimoire and mental health magick.  

And if you prefer to get your copy in print, I will let you know when it is available soon.