Another perspective on reading
It seems every few months another wave of posts about whether people are reading enough starts (the latest, I think, was prompted by the Kindle’s release). I came across this quote by Albert Einstein (attr., can’t figure out where the quote came from yet) the other day- it throws an interesting counter perspective on the issue: “Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” I think Einstein might love the web 2.0 craze, with the emphasis on creating and remixing, not passive reading.
I love to read, it’s in my top three favorite things to do. I definitely prefer books over computer screen but that’s really two different types of information anyway.
I hope you have a great vacation from school.
We should start an interesting group on Flickr. I was thinking “disgusting stuff as art” (you liked Compost, now see Flu).
I study literacy and the history of reading and writing, and I can tell you that people have been reporting this in some form or other since people began reading. The same holds true for complaints about writing ability.