The first part that I read I enjoyed, I just don't have the time and energy to focus fully on this now. The book looks at the way the brain learns to read and that its not a natural process but something that we learn. ( )

Thought-provoking, at times too many complictaed words. Deep analysis of both the history of reading but also how our brains learns to pick up the skill. ( )

Excellent book and read. Between the lines it's an indictment of our current one size fits all educational system.

What an incredible book. Supremely readable, it seems undignified to label this 'popular science', because the amount of references show clearly that this has been as thoroughly researched as any serious scientific book. The only thing, really, that puts it into the popular category is the lack of note markers in the text - which is nice, until you get to the notes and realise how hard it is to relate them back... a very minor gripe.

Maryanne Wolf's title alludes to the different aspects of reading exemplified by Proust's description of the book, in 'On Reading', as a place to take refuge and explore other realities and ideas, and the part the squid has played in the historical study of the brain. If you like, it's the felt experience of the reader complemented by the mechanics behind the scenes. The book is divided into three main parts: how the brain learned to read - a retrospective of the history of reading and brain science; how the brain learns to read over time - what we know or believe now about reading acquisition; and when the brain can't learn to read - a survey of current research and developments in dyslexia.

Wolf's style is delightful. Even when she is explaining the complexities of brain imaging and how that might relate to reading development, she is never less than fluid (though I suspect I fell into the trap that, she tells us, Socrates feared would arise through literacy: that of ceasing to question, and reading without truly understanding!). It's not the kind of book where you find yourself so bogged down in the technical descriptions you are unable to move forward. The science is leavened with anecdotes from her own research and family life, and seasoned with numerous interesting literary and historical references (personal favourite: Eliot's analogies for Casaubon's mind from Middlemarch).

Wolf closes with a call to arms to urgently consider the implications for the current generation of schoolchildren of 'growing up digital', repeatedly worrying at the notion that the ease of access to information provided by the internet may produce a crop of children with little or no curiosity about exploring texts further than their surfaces.

I found this completely fascinating from just about every perspective: the history of reading, writing and alphabets, which I knew very little about; the process of language acquisition, which was particularly interesting as my youngest child is at the stage of beginning to reliably recognise letters; dyslexia, which I knew absolutely nothing about (nice too that Wolf uses The Lightning Thief for an epigraph in one of these chapters); and her personal mission statement in the final chapter. Everyone with an interest in reading should seek it out. ( )

This was a fascinating study of the “reading brain” with an added dash of a brief history of the rise of written language (so we would have something to read!). After reading this book I am in awe that anyone learns to read. Are brain is not “programmed” for reading. The brain of each individual has to start from scratch developing new pathways that eventually will lead to reading skills. This is why children who get a late start, not being introduced to books and stories at a very young age, often never get beyond the rudimentary level of decoding and seldom develop into expert readers. I think every parent and teacher of young children should read this book.
Since I am a “squid” I was most fascinated by the last section of the book: WHEN THE BRAIN CAN’T LEARN TO READ. This section discusses the problems facing the dyslexic child. I was one of the lucky ones. I wasn’t diagnosed but I had two parents a some excellent teachers who worked with me and pushed me until I developed the skills I needed and by the time I was in third grade (the time when the dyslexic usually gets left in the dust) I had developed enough skill that I was able to keep up although no one could understand why I couldn’t seem to master spelling! However, I have always been a “slow” reader compared to my peers—those who read voraciously usually become quite fast. I now know why. Reading is a ‘Left Brain” activity for the most part, although the Right Brain does have some work to do in the process. For dyslexics, the left brain paths for reading never develop; our reading paths develop in the right brain, which does not work as quickly so there is always a “delay” in the process for us. This is also why most dyslexics—even the brilliant ones—usually don’t become expert readers. Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Thomas Alva Edison are three of the brilliant ones who developed their talents in other areas. This goes on my list of best books of the year and gets 5 stars! ( )