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by: Maryanne Wolf  List Price: $25.95 Amazon.com's Price: $17.13 You Save: $8.82 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 612.82 EAN: 9780060186395 Edition: 1 ISBN: 0060186399 Label: Harper Manufacturer: Harper Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: September 01, 2007 Publisher: Harper Release Date: September 04, 2007 Studio: Harper Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: The act of reading is a miracle. Every new reader's brain possesses the extraordinary capacity to rearrange itself beyond its original abilities in order to understand written symbols. But how does the brain learn to read? As world-renowned cognitive neuroscientist and scholar of reading Maryanne Wolf explains in this impassioned book, we taught our brain to read only a few thousand years ago, and in the process changed the intellectual evolution of our species. Wolf tells us that the brain that examined tiny clay tablets in the cuneiform script of the Sumerians is configured differently from the brain that reads alphabets or of one literate in today's technology. There are critical implications to such an evolving brain. Just as writing reduced the need for memory, the proliferation of information and the particular requirements of digital culture may short-circuit some of written language's unique contributions—with potentially profound consequences for our future. Turning her attention to the development of the individual reading brain, Wolf draws on her expertise in dyslexia to investigate what happens when the brain finds it difficult to read. Interweaving her vast knowledge of neuroscience, psychology, literature, and linguistics, Wolf takes the reader from the brains of a pre-literate Homer to a literacy-ambivalent Plato, from an infant listening to Goodnight Moon to an expert reader of Proust, and finally to an often misunderstood child with dyslexia whose gifts may be as real as the challenges he or she faces. As we come to appreciate how the evolution and development of reading have changed the very arrangement of our brain and our intellectual life, we begin to realize with ever greater comprehension that we truly are what we read. Ambitious, provocative, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid celebrates reading, one of the single most remarkable inventions in history. Once embarked on this magnificent story of the reading brain, you will never again take for granted your ability to absorb the written word. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Confirming and Thought-ProvokingI received this book as a gift from a student I tutored in preparation for the Advanced Placement Latin exam. Almost as soon as I had started to read it, I began to cite it and recommend it to my teacher friends and to parents of young children. Maryanne Wolf is a professor of child development and cognitive neuroscience at Tufts University and is director of the Center for Reading and Language Research. She is also the mother of two children, one of whom has dyslexia, and has reflected deeply ... Read More Rating:  - More squid than ProustThe subject is interesting, or appears to be so -- how reading is affected by and affects the brain, with the teaser that we are now entering a new post-reading age with unforeseeable consequences. Unfortunately the book is poorly written and poorly organized and has little new to say. Precisely where you expect analysis you get vagueness and unclear rhetoric. I'm not sure how useful it is to know what sections of the brain are activated when reading, or when reading with dyslexia, or reading Chinese ... Read More Rating:  - Esoteric and Fascinating......I initially found this book at the library (my second home) and although I read much more fiction than "non" was drawn to the theme. What voracious reader does not want to understand why reading a book is a joy and a passion for some of us and a hideous chore for others? One of my new friends is severely dyslexic and when I saw that the author had a vested interest in the subject I felt that this was a work that would be accessible to a lay person as well as a scientist or academic. Read More Rating: - teachers petterrific book NO TEACHER SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO APPROACH A CLASSROOM BEFORE READING THIS TEXT Rating: - Helpful and Educatonal BookI thought this was a good book for a layman like me. My son has a learning disability related to reading. That is why I wanted to read this book. The book helped me understand how complex reading really is and what my son is probably experiencing. I would recommend this book to anyone who has similar problems. 
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