The Magic of the Book. The Reflections of a Reading Worrier about the Role of Books

Abstract

This paper uses research in the cognitive neurosciences to describe the roles that books play in the complex development of deep reading in children in a digital culture. As digital devices and social media increasingly replace books in our youth’s economy of attention, issues emerge concerning cognitive changes that can accompany digital reading (particularly the use of skimming rather than reading deeply). Of central importance will be the next generation’s ability to develop essential intellectual skills: a quality of attention that reinforces memory, background knowledge, perspective-taking/empathic capacities, and very important critical analytical skills. The connections between and among the development of these skills, the role of books in this development, the discernment of truth value in text, and the ability to maintain a vibrant true democracy are emphasized.