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abbymoore06's review against another edition
3.0
This one was heavy... very scientific and detailed. I did pick up some lovely crumbs along the way about what happens to the brain when you read, but much of this book had me thinking about a problem with no real solution. It felt so negative, and while I understand her concerns, I'm not sure it is as bleak as she describes. Today's readers are finding refuge in some really meaningful books, even if the syntaxes are different than classic literature. There's still value there, but perhaps it's not the kind that can be identified on a brain scan.
theforereffect's review against another edition
3.0
Oh dear.
This book suffers from the format and it's unfortunate because Maryanne Wolf's research and insights are incredibly important. While I agreed with the crux of everything she said and I am fully behind her theory of the bilitterate brain, getting to her point was an arduous process that had me wanting to rage quit this book despite it being about one of my most favorite topics.
I feel like she had planned to wrote a very different book. I feel like she got the research ready and was geared up to wrote a book fully about the bilitterate brain, but she didn't have enough material so decided to parent down to a more informal format.
This could have worked well if the letters to the reader were... you know... letters.
Have you ever got an email from that aunt? You know which aunt I mean. The one that has all these thoughts, all these opinions, and she doesn't care who she's talking to or why she says what she is saying. She just pours her heart out I'm a big wall of text as if you, the recipient of her email, does not exist. Then at the end she actually gets to the point sorta and signs off and you are like... should I even respond? How?
That's what this was like. The chapters, framed as letters, were only letters in that they were signed at the end. It was just the author sounding off without any thought about the reader or any attempt to engage or carry on the conversation.
Because that is what a letter is, correct? An asynchronous conversation? But I did not feel part of this conversation. I felt like I was ready part 2 of her first book, which is fine because that is what I wanted to read, but since she didn't commit to either format it just left me confused and wanting.
The problem is, it ends up being very pompous and over-done. The "letter" format allowed the author to go flowery with her language, but paired with the science (which is the good part) it gets a little... pretentious.
And the pretentiousness contradicts her very point. It's very frustrating.
Overall, a worthy topic and she does present a lot of interesting ideas I had not read elsewhere. I wish Wolf had gone all in on epistolary and made it very conversational and accessible. Of she had, I would have recommended it to a lot of people who bulk at brain science. Or on the other hand, I wish she had gone all in on the brain science and given me all the facts.
The in-between, however, means this entry into all pantheon of books related to the science of reading popping up lately is forgettable. Other than the idea of the biliterate brainbit was all kind of useless.
Oh well.
This book suffers from the format and it's unfortunate because Maryanne Wolf's research and insights are incredibly important. While I agreed with the crux of everything she said and I am fully behind her theory of the bilitterate brain, getting to her point was an arduous process that had me wanting to rage quit this book despite it being about one of my most favorite topics.
I feel like she had planned to wrote a very different book. I feel like she got the research ready and was geared up to wrote a book fully about the bilitterate brain, but she didn't have enough material so decided to parent down to a more informal format.
This could have worked well if the letters to the reader were... you know... letters.
Have you ever got an email from that aunt? You know which aunt I mean. The one that has all these thoughts, all these opinions, and she doesn't care who she's talking to or why she says what she is saying. She just pours her heart out I'm a big wall of text as if you, the recipient of her email, does not exist. Then at the end she actually gets to the point sorta and signs off and you are like... should I even respond? How?
That's what this was like. The chapters, framed as letters, were only letters in that they were signed at the end. It was just the author sounding off without any thought about the reader or any attempt to engage or carry on the conversation.
Because that is what a letter is, correct? An asynchronous conversation? But I did not feel part of this conversation. I felt like I was ready part 2 of her first book, which is fine because that is what I wanted to read, but since she didn't commit to either format it just left me confused and wanting.
The problem is, it ends up being very pompous and over-done. The "letter" format allowed the author to go flowery with her language, but paired with the science (which is the good part) it gets a little... pretentious.
And the pretentiousness contradicts her very point. It's very frustrating.
Overall, a worthy topic and she does present a lot of interesting ideas I had not read elsewhere. I wish Wolf had gone all in on epistolary and made it very conversational and accessible. Of she had, I would have recommended it to a lot of people who bulk at brain science. Or on the other hand, I wish she had gone all in on the brain science and given me all the facts.
The in-between, however, means this entry into all pantheon of books related to the science of reading popping up lately is forgettable. Other than the idea of the biliterate brainbit was all kind of useless.
Oh well.
dogtrax's review against another edition
4.0
Intriguing look at brain research and young readers’ reliance on screens ... and an alarming look at the issue, too. We don’t know enough about the impact of screens on small children but what we do know should raise red flags for parents everywhere.
jessabbott22's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
laurynreads's review against another edition
2.0
Mm NOPE not for me. When she’s talking about science she knows what she’s doing but whenever she starts opining about the future citizens and humanity writ large it just reeks of elitism and classism and I couldn’t deal with it. I have a lot of issues with what she says, especially in the latter half of the book, and it really felt like every person I know who’s a Boston liberal do-gooder who doesn’t actually want to give up their prestige or lose their classist lens to consider the lived experiences of marginalized folks. At least that’s how her opinions came off to me
romcm's review against another edition
4.0
We all know it’s true. The internet has interrupted our... What was I saying?
katieproctorbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This was super interesting, especially the research on how we read digitally versus on paper and how screens have affected our attention.
sundeviljewels's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
This book was extremely difficult for me to read, primarily because of the vocabulary and medical references. I thought it would give me tools and tips on how to better help my students read in this digital age.
One night, when I could not sleep, I read some reviews, and one reader posted that what Wolf could say in 15 words, she chooses to write 60 words about, and uses uncommon vocabulary words. I was looking up some words, and some of them I could not find! I even broke this book up, and only read one chapter per day!
I then came to my own conclusion this book is outdated, as it was written in 2018, and now we are dealing with a more profound digital age due to COVID.
Do I think parents need to read to their children from birth and never stop, I do. Do I desire books or kindles in hand for my students, I do. Do I want my dyslexic children to have the ability to listen to books, but also follow along, I do.
Does explicit instruction need to come back in style, it does! Our children lack critical thinking skills.
This book was extremely difficult for me to read, primarily because of the vocabulary and medical references. I thought it would give me tools and tips on how to better help my students read in this digital age.
One night, when I could not sleep, I read some reviews, and one reader posted that what Wolf could say in 15 words, she chooses to write 60 words about, and uses uncommon vocabulary words. I was looking up some words, and some of them I could not find! I even broke this book up, and only read one chapter per day!
I then came to my own conclusion this book is outdated, as it was written in 2018, and now we are dealing with a more profound digital age due to COVID.
Do I think parents need to read to their children from birth and never stop, I do. Do I desire books or kindles in hand for my students, I do. Do I want my dyslexic children to have the ability to listen to books, but also follow along, I do.
Does explicit instruction need to come back in style, it does! Our children lack critical thinking skills.