Legal Research

Slow Reading

By admin

Another sign that we’re at the turn of a Millennium and the crazy ideas are still coming out:

First up:

An editorial saying that e-readers make it too easy to read and maybe they shuold have a feature that makes them gharder to read so that we read slower (on the dubious pretext that slower reading is more thoughtful).

The Future Of Reading
by Jonah Lehrer

“So here?s my wish for e-readers. I?d love them to include a feature that allows us to undo their ease, to make the act of reading just a little bit more difficult. Perhaps we need to alter the fonts, or reduce the contrast, or invert the monochrome color scheme. Our eyes will need to struggle, and we?ll certainly read slower, but that?s the point: Only then will we process the text a little less unconsciously, with less reliance on the ventral pathway. We won?t just scan the words ? we will contemplate their meaning.”

And here’s a wonderful retort:

Awwww ? Kindle and Nook make it too easy to read

“The Kindle and Nook are bad, evil eReaders. They make it too easy to read. … Awwwwwww! What a bunch of nonsense. There are times when super-intelligent people get stuck in their own heads. This is one of those times.”

Fun reading for the weekend.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on January 16, 2011 (boomark / email).