LATimes - the Lost Art of Reading

  • Yesterday's "speed reading" seed article claimed:

    Increasing reading speed is a process of controlling fine motor movement--period.

    as if the most important part of reading were increasing the rate at which symbols mechanically tickle your retinas.

    This essay more closely reflects my experience. Create an environment that improves concentration, that allows focus, and the effective reading rate will skyrocket. We battle endless distractions that all conspire to prevent submersion in a text.

  • Generally true but overstated. It seems to consider literature as consisting of serious fiction and of memoir. It omits mention of the huge number of books written to be read as distractions.