I guess I understand why there was so much speculation around how we were able to transform little lines and curves into something intelligible; something that actually means something--and we can comprehend it. Even though we now have the technology to understand how we really read (unfortunately there are no spirits living in our eyes), the concept is still magical. A little child successfully reading a book for the first time experiences the same wonder and amazement that Aristotle must have felt when he was constructing his theory. This, I believe, is why books are still a relevant medium.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
What is reading?
I found it very interesting how Manguel talks about the different theories about how we read. Since people didn't understand how eyes and light worked, there were several different theories on how we are able to read. Aristotle believed that you took the words into your "innards" which included important vital organs and which he believed to have control over the brain. Perhaps even more entertaining is the theory of the Greek physician Galen, who ventured that there might be a "visual spirit" that lives inside our eyes and then crosses the gap between our eyes and the page in order for us to see the words written there.
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Reading it totally relevant. I think in schools, there should be more options for student reading. At least in elementary school. When you're a kid that doesn't like to read, offering a book that is more interesting to them could help get them started to building knowledge of reading. I always wondered why the book fair was only one week a year. I wanted fairs like that every day. That was the only time, as a kid, I was excited about reading. At my school, they put up a book quota and we had to have a certain amount of books read by the end of the year. And for someone who didn't read well, that was scary. Reading SHOULD be magical and shouldn't be used for district prowess. Reading is magical and should be that way!
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