Director, Tufts University's Center for Reading and Language Research
Professor of Child Development at Tufts University and Director of its Center for Reading and Language Research; author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
The Kindle, the Nook, the iPad...the Book? The Internet and e-books are taking over the reading market, for better or worse: 10 percent this year, 20 percent next year, possibly a majority by 2015. Barnes & Noble is up for sale, and Borders is on the edge of collapse, although independent bookstores might be able to capitalize. Screens require different brain functions than pages, so what will this mean for what we read, how we read and how coming generations learn to think? Will e-books be linked to video, music, games, advertising? Will printed books become luxury items while paperbacks disappear?
The Kindle, the Nook, the iPad...the Book? The Internet and e-books are taking over the reading market, for better or worse: 10 percent this year, 20 percent next year, possibly a majority by 2015. Barnes & Noble is up for sale, and Borders is on the edge of collapse, although independent bookstores might be able to capitalize. Screens require different brain functions than pages, so what will this mean for what we read, how we read and how coming generations learn to think? Will e-books be linked to video, music, games, advertising? Will printed books become luxury items while paperbacks disappear?
Reading in a World Wide Web of Distraction The National Endowment for the Arts has a program called The Big Read , encouraging Americans to read books and talk about them together. The NEA program is one response to a disturbing finding: Americans are reading less -- and reading less well. That's according to an analysis of 40 different studies, " To Read or Not to Read : A Question of National Consequence." Humans are not genetically programmed to read, but have to learn over time by reading books. Books are giving way to the Internet. As reading scores decline, some researchers claim the Internet is promoting superficial thinking instead of the wisdom that comes with patient study. On this archived To the Point discussion, we consider whether schools should teach children to use the Web critically. Should Internet 1-A be part of the basic curriculum?
Reading in a World Wide Web of Distraction The National Endowment for the Arts has a program called The Big Read , encouraging Americans to read books and talk about them together. The NEA program is one response to a disturbing finding: Americans are reading less and reading less well. That's according to an analysis of 40 different studies. Human beings are not genetically programmed to read; they have to learn over time—by reading books. But books are giving way to the Internet. As reading scores decline, some researchers claim the Internet is promoting quick, superficial thinking instead of the wisdom that comes with patient study. Nobody wants to get rid of books, but kids spend more time on the Internet. Should schools teach them to use it critically? Should Internet 1A be part of the basic curriculum?
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.