From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
June-July 2012 - Godel Escher Bach
By Betsy , co-mod · 126 posts · 791 views
By Betsy , co-mod · 126 posts · 791 views
last updated Jun 08, 2024 07:09PM
December 2012 Emperor of All Maladies
By Betsy , co-mod · 23 posts · 233 views
By Betsy , co-mod · 23 posts · 233 views
last updated Feb 16, 2020 09:48PM
What Members Thought
This is an interesting book, organized in three sections. In the first section, Maryanne Wolf describes how the human race developed reading (and writing, of course). Symbols denoting words evolved into symbols denoting syllables and then individual sounds, as letters. As Wolf reiterates, this evolution took 2,000 years, yet a child learns to read in 2,000 days. The development of an alphabet was a strikingly innovative concept. Scholars do not agree on the definition of an alphabet, and by some
...more
I was really looking forward to this one and while I did find it really interesting, it was also a little to detailed/technical in places which made it a little harder to follow, especially as there was no glossary or footnotes to clarify these points. I'm sure if I was more familiar with the study of languages this wouldn't have been a problem but as a science nerd, languages are not my strong point. That aside I did enjoy the bits I could follow, which was a large majority of the book, and the
...more
This is a fascinating book about reading. First Wolf tells us how reading and writing arose and evolved. Then she takes us through the brain of a child as it learns to read. Next she shows us what a "differently organized" (dyslexic) brain teaches us. Lastly Wolf tries to decide what this means to us as we start gathering information and communicating digitally.
Some interesting things that I learned: readers of different writing systems use some different parts of their brains when reading; the ...more
Some interesting things that I learned: readers of different writing systems use some different parts of their brains when reading; the ...more
Fascinating information about how the brain adapts in response to learning to read. Breaks down the different steps involved in reading, from recognizing letters to recognizing the sounds letters make, then being able to match those sounds to words, then ideas.
The first half of the book is very accessible, but the second half gets a bit too technical - I kept feeling the need for a glossary so that I could remind myself of the difference in function between the angular gyrus and the temporal lob ...more
The first half of the book is very accessible, but the second half gets a bit too technical - I kept feeling the need for a glossary so that I could remind myself of the difference in function between the angular gyrus and the temporal lob ...more
Sep 17, 2007
Anna
marked it as to-read
Aug 27, 2008
Ragna
marked it as to-read
Dec 09, 2008
Thomas
added it
Apr 19, 2009
Shelley
marked it as to-read
Oct 08, 2010
Velvetink
marked it as to-read
Feb 11, 2011
Angela Randall
marked it as to-read
Sep 16, 2011
AER
marked it as to-read
Dec 26, 2011
Danielle Brigida
marked it as to-read
Dec 26, 2011
J
marked it as to-read
Jan 01, 2012
Michael
marked it as to-read
Jan 07, 2012
Robert
marked it as to-read
Apr 14, 2012
Keith
marked it as to-read
Oct 03, 2013
Mikayla
marked it as to-read
Aug 19, 2017
レニ� (Reny)
marked it as to-read
Feb 17, 2019
Erica
marked it as to-read
Jun 23, 2020
Britt Aamodt
marked it as to-read
