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A review by mrzpn_
The Science of Reading: Information, Media, and Mind in Modern America by Adrian Johns
Did not finish book. Stopped at 53%.
DNF at pg 271 (chapter 7)
I wanted to like this book so badly.
My PhD focused on reading and the brain. I have a soft spot for reading research. This book was like a long, drawn-out history of reading without doing a good job of actually explaining the science aspect (though really great at outlining reading education through different time periods).
While this mostly followed a chronological order, there was some back and forth between years at times because the author would detail a certain person’s career and influence on reading, and a lot of these individuals overlapped in time. This I did not have much of a problem with. My main issue with this book was that it was so wordy, so lost in the weeds at times, I kept thinking to myself “where is Johns going with this?”
There was also a lack of coherence between paragraphs at times which led to disjointed thoughts and stories that didn’t seem to tie together well. Again, this left me with a “where are we doing with this?” attitude.
While I didn’t finish the book and have no idea how far into contemporary reading research Johns ends up going into (such as all of the neuroscience research, standardized testing focusing on phonology rather than reading speed), I really wish there was more detail on the actual RESEARCH methods. This complaint of mine might also stem from my science background, and this was definitely written from a more historical angle.
Overall, not a book for me, but I think I was expecting this to be something different.
I wanted to like this book so badly.
My PhD focused on reading and the brain. I have a soft spot for reading research. This book was like a long, drawn-out history of reading without doing a good job of actually explaining the science aspect (though really great at outlining reading education through different time periods).
While this mostly followed a chronological order, there was some back and forth between years at times because the author would detail a certain person’s career and influence on reading, and a lot of these individuals overlapped in time. This I did not have much of a problem with. My main issue with this book was that it was so wordy, so lost in the weeds at times, I kept thinking to myself “where is Johns going with this?”
There was also a lack of coherence between paragraphs at times which led to disjointed thoughts and stories that didn’t seem to tie together well. Again, this left me with a “where are we doing with this?” attitude.
While I didn’t finish the book and have no idea how far into contemporary reading research Johns ends up going into (such as all of the neuroscience research, standardized testing focusing on phonology rather than reading speed), I really wish there was more detail on the actual RESEARCH methods. This complaint of mine might also stem from my science background, and this was definitely written from a more historical angle.
Overall, not a book for me, but I think I was expecting this to be something different.