Crain's "Twilight of the Books"

The main idea of Crain’s “Twilight of the Books” was that less and less people are reading today. This wasn’t new or surprising information to me because I am part of the problem. When I was younger I remember reading twelve books per summer. Reading was one of my favorite activities to do in the summer, but now, I find myself watching TV when I have nothing better to do instead of picking up a book like I used to.

One statement in the reading that I found interesting was when it said that readers and viewers think differently. I believe this means that when someone is reading a book they are able to imagine the characters and the locations for themselves. Books make your brain work even when you don’t realize it. When watching TV everything is given to you; there’s no room for imagination. Therefore a viewer is lazier than a reader.

One line that I thought contradicted the above idea was a comment Wolf made about reading. Wolf said, “When reading goes well it feels effortless, like drifting down a river rather than rowing up. It makes you smarter because it leaves more of your brain alone.” I found this strange because I thought when you use more of your brain you become smarter. For example when you’re reading about a topic that you are unfamiliar with, it may be difficult because you may not understand everything, but it is making you smarter due to the fact that you’re learning new things. I’m not sure if this idea that Wolf brought up is true, but because it's contrary to my belief it caught my attention very quickly.

The notation system was difficult for me to use because it was different than what I am used to. For the past five years I’ve been underlining and using different brackets to symbolize important passages. I do think this is a good system, but it’s a method I would have to get more familiar with. It was especially hard to use with this first reading because I didn’t know what each number symbolized, so I would have to go back and look it up in the middle of the reading which staggered my flow of reading.