Jerry and Me: A Decade Of Correspondence With J. D. Salinger
Mar 3, 2010 General
Thanks to Spinballer for this link – the article tells the story of a teenage fan who became penpals with J D Salinger. It’s quite genuinely touching.
Book Cover Archive
Dec 11, 2009 Art, General, Image based
Just because you don’t judge a book by its cover doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate them. Here’s a massive archive of over 1000 book covers for you to enjoy.
Fastest Reader In The World?
Dec 8, 2009 General
There are plenty of people out there who would like to improve their reading speed, and for those of you into superfast reading a quick Google search will turn up any number of speed-reading courses of no doubt variable quality. There’s more than one speed-reading method out there, as Wikipedia outlines, and the current world champion is Anne Jones, who set a new record by reading the final Harry Potter book in 47 minutes. If you think you can do better than that, there’s even a competitive side to it – according to the World Speed Reading Council, it’s one of five Learning Mind Sports showcased regularly by the international Festival of the Mind.
What do you think – useful skill, or largely a bit of a gimmick?
Guerrilla Reading – What Former Revolutionaries Tell Us About The Neuroscience Of Reading
Dec 2, 2009 General, Learning and Knowledge, Science and Technology
In the 1990s, Colombia reintegrated five left-wing guerrilla groups back into mainstream society after decades of conflict. Education was a big priority – many of the guerrillas had spent their entire lives fighting and were more familiar with the grasp of a gun than a pencil. Reintegration offered them the chance to learn to read and write for the first time in their lives, but it also offered Manuel Carreiras a chance to study what happens in the human brain as we become literate.
Full article at Not Exactly Rocket Science
Phone Box Has New Life As Library
Dec 2, 2009 General
A traditional red phone box has been recycled into one of the country’s smallest lending libraries – stocking 100 books.
Villagers from Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset can use the library around the clock, selecting books, DVDs and CDs.
Users simply stock it with a book they have read, swapping it for one they have not.
“It’s really taken off. The books are constantly changing,” said parish councillor Bob Dolby.
He added: “It is completely full at the moment with books. Anyone is free to come and take a book and leave one that you have already read.
“This facility has turned a piece of street furniture into a community service in constant use.”
Full article at the BBC
Leave a comment: win a book.
Nov 5, 2009 General, Special Offers, Updates
If you leave a comment on a book here that you’ve read. Simply say so, leave a few words about it and each month we will award the best commenter with a book of their choice from our lists.
We will be running this for a few months and as soon as we start to see more reviews we’ll be upping what we give away. So WATCH THIS SPACE!
Jo
Hello People
Oct 27, 2009 General, Special Offers, Specialist Subjects, Updates
Welcome to Why We Read, my own personal take on what is and isn’t worth reading. Having worked in a library, a school and a university as an IT specialist for 8 years I would find myself scouring through books for something decent to read.
The vast majority of books out there seem to garner their credibility on a gutter press quote on the jacket or a reader top 10 list that featured the likes of Jordan or some other equally vacuous celebrity. Training books always seem to offer to turn you in to a wizz in 24hrs and I’m always amazed at how hard it is to get a good recommendation.
So I intend to wade through all the crap out there and recommend a good solid reading list that will both entertain, inform and allow visitors to hopefully help build a complete list of worthwhile releases.
If you have any books that you feel are important and a good read then please email me and we will review.
Enjoy
Joe
