About this item
Highlights
- "Wolf restores our awe of the human brain--its adaptability, its creativity, and its ability to connect with other minds through a procession of silly squiggles.
- Author(s): Maryanne Wolf
- 336 Pages
- Psychology, Neuropsychology
Description
About the Book
A remarkable tour de force by a world-renown neuroscientist explains that human beings were never born to read; this invention changed the very organization of man's brain and altered the intellectual evolution of the species.Book Synopsis
"Wolf restores our awe of the human brain--its adaptability, its creativity, and its ability to connect with other minds through a procession of silly squiggles." -- San Francisco Chronicle
How do people learn to read and write--and how has the development of these skills transformed the brain and the world itself ? Neuropsychologist and child development expert Maryann Wolf answers these questions in this ambitious and provocative book that chronicles the remarkable journey of written language not only throughout our evolution but also over the course of a single child's life, showing why a growing percentage have difficulty mastering these abilities.
With fascinating down-to-earth examples and lively personal anecdotes, Wolf asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians is a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today's technology-driven literacy, in which visual images on the screen are paving the way for a reduced need for written language--with potentially profound consequences for our future.
From the Back Cover
"Human beings were never born to read," writes Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist and child development expert Maryanne Wolf. Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges itself to learn something new. In this ambitious, provocative book, Wolf chronicles the remarkable journey of the reading brain not only over the past five thousand years, since writing began, but also over the course of a single child's life, showing in the process why children with dyslexia have reading difficulties and singular gifts.
Lively, erudite, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians was a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today's technology-driven literacy. The potential transformations in this changed reading brain, Wolf argues, have profound implications for every child and for the intellectual development of our species.
Review Quotes
"For everyone who has wondered how reading and writing happen, here is an entertaining, comprehensive, delightfully clear account of how our brain allowed us to become word magicians. A splendid achievement!" -- Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading
"Wolf's intriguing combination of linguistic history, sociology, psychology, and neuroscience is engaging and clear. The figures and illustrations as well as the wonderful literary quotes enrich her readable prose...Recommended." -- Library Journal
"[Maryanne Wolf] displays extraordinary passion and perceptiveness concerning the reading brain, its miraculous achievements and tragic dysfunctions." -- BookForum
"Everything Wolf says makes sense....She clearly knows her stuff." -- Washington Post Book World
"Wolf restores our awe of the human brain its adaptability, its creativity and its ability to connect with other minds through a procession of silly squiggles." -- San Francisco Chronicle
"Brilliant and eye-opening." -- Philadelphia Inquirer
"[Proust and the Squid] rises from a merely professional tome to a personal and highly accessible project." -- California Literary Review
"Brilliant and eye-opening." -- Albany Times Union
"Wolf's knowledge of and appreciation for her subject are apparent....fascinating....Wolf restores our awe of the human brain its adaptability, its creativity and its ability to connect with other minds through a procession of silly squiggles." -- Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
"[Wolf's] conversational style, reflective comments and insights from work with children...create a narrative flow and bright tone." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune
"The squid of Wolf's title represents the neurobiological approach to the study of reading....Given the panic that takes hold of humanists when the decline of reading is discussed, her cold-blooded perspective is opportune." -- The New Yorker
"A book worth talking about." -- U.S. News & World Report
"Enjoyable....Wolf, with remarkable agility in a relatively compact book (intended for both aficionados and the uninitiated), transitions seamlessly between disciplines as diverse as linguistics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and archeology, among others. Her voice comes through clearly; she is fascinated by reading and shares that energy." -- New England Journal of Medicine
"Wolf's alarm about the spread of semi- literacy among the young is obviously justified, and her book provokes thought about it as only reading can." -- Sunday Times (London)
"This humane and fascinating book...is a paean to what Proust, über-reader, called 'that fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude, ' to all that has been and can be achieved for individuals and for mankind through literacy." -- The Evening Standard (London)
"Blindingly fascinating...detailed and scholarly....There's a lot of difficult material in here. But it's worth the effort....For people interested in language, this is a must. You'll find yourself focusing on words in new ways. Read it slowly--it will take time to sink in." -- The Sunday Telegraph
"Proust and the Squid is an inspiring celebration of the science of reading....Wolf's insights are fascinating....Proust and the Squid has much to offer on this important--perhaps the most important--subject" -- The Guardian (London)
"Her book is a remarkable excavation of something we take largely for granted, and throws up plenty of thought-provoking ideas along the way." -- Sunday Times (London)