There is no right way to read, argues Adrian Johns
to slow down because we have become acclimatized to a relentless onslaught. Our very brains, Wolf reports, have changed. Unease associated with this is one reason why the business of conducting digital detox retreats is so profitable.Still, there is something defeatist about the idea of a retreat.
In the postwar years, for example, America’s office workers, government bureaucrats, and military officers alike all complained of the relentless flow of paperwork that demanded and distracted their attention. The first great campaigns to create super-readers emerged in response.
As so often in atomic-age America, the fount of this optimism lay in science, which was at the peak of its public prestige after the Manhattan Project. Sure enough, a “science of reading” rose to public prominence, giving rise to dozens of businesses that promised transformative results for everyone from housewives to presidents. Americans were told that they could radically augment the human power to take in information by training themselves to read many times as fast as they were used to.
This science rested on experiments that traced the movements of a reader’s eyes as they passed over a page of text. Using delicate photographic instruments, researchersthat the eyes of a good, fast reader moved smoothly and rhythmically. So they sought now to use mechanical “accelerators” to train Americans to move their eyes in similarly swift and smooth ways, hoping that this would make them equally fluent readers.
In the end, the hopes raised by this science of reading—as with so many of the optimistic ventures of the atomic age—withered. It proved harder to confirm radical improvement than advocates like Renshaw claimed, and all too often readers found that benefits, real as they might be, dissipated after a few months. Its promises discredited, speed-reading became a preserve of hucksters and showmen.
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
While you wait for Skywind and Skyblivion, you could be playing Skygerfall right nowSkywind and Skyblivion won't be finished for ages, but Skygerfall is complete and you can play it today.
Lire la suite »
Neville has doubts over Arsenal duo claiming they are 'not at their best' right nowArsenal made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League this weekend, but Gary Neville still has doubts over a couple of their stars.
Lire la suite »
Texas mall gunman had 'Right Wing Death Squad patch on his chest'Police are investigating whether a man believed to have shot and killed eight people at a shopping centre had an interest in ‘white supremacist ideology’.
Lire la suite »
EU cancels Israel event after hard-right minister plans to attend\n\t\t\tKeep abreast of significant corporate, financial and political developments around the world.\n\t\t\tStay informed and spot emerging risks and opportunities with independent global reporting, expert\n\t\t\tcommentary and analysis you can trust.\n\t\t
Lire la suite »
Fears a global extremist network is driving mass shooters as Texas gunman linked to far-rightThe growth of factions of extremist right wing movements is likely “stimulate the growth in other extremist groups”, and bring more violence, criminal experts tell theipaper
Lire la suite »