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Review
He writes with panache...it is excellent (The Tablet )
fascinating study (Writing Magazine )
Delightful yet discombobulating (The Wall Street Journal )
what could be nicer to read than a book about how nice reading is? (Steven Poole, The Guardian )
lively volume...prepare to be engrossed. (Times Higher Education Supplement )
A vigorous and friendly exhortation to get back into the kind of reading that made you a reader in the first place. (Library Journal )
fascinating study (Writing Magazine )
Delightful yet discombobulating (The Wall Street Journal )
what could be nicer to read than a book about how nice reading is? (Steven Poole, The Guardian )
lively volume...prepare to be engrossed. (Times Higher Education Supplement )
A vigorous and friendly exhortation to get back into the kind of reading that made you a reader in the first place. (Library Journal )
Product Description
Is reading under threat? No, says Alan Jacobs--but people do need help iand encouragemnt to enjoy it to the full. Jacobs's experience as a lecturer and many-time author suggests that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. He offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In this slim essay Alan Jacobs offers advice for those who have forgotten how to get pleasure from reading, who would like to get lost in a book but find there are too many distractions to enable sustained concentration. I picked this book up on a whim and as I read I thought that perhaps I was not really its intended audience, being able to pleasurably immerse myself in a book without anxiety or distraction. However Jacobs did make me think about the way I read (probably too fast) and I finished feeling invigorated, looking forward to reading with a new care, being freshly attentive to both the words on the page and the experience of reading itself.
Jacobs offers his counsel with intelligence and liberality, being didactic but not dogmatic. I was most impressed by his use of quotations which as well as being pertinent were a joy to read and opened up new arenas of reading from Machiavelli to David Foster Wallace, via Auden, Zweig, and others. The book ends with 'An Essay on Sources' which, without being a reading list, offers much inspiration.
As well as the beautifully written passages he quotes, Jacobs's own writing is also something to savour; for example in the following passage on the right time to re-read a favourite book:
"Lately I have been asking myself whether I have sufficiently forgotten the details of Patrick O'Brien's novels..that I can return to them with vibrant pleasure. I hover over those memories like a cook over a stewpot: in another year, I think, the books and I will be ready."
Jacobs has thoughtful things to say about the merits of reading on a Kindle or similar device; however, as the 'codex' version of this book is a nicely presented hardback with pleasing typography, I would recommend buying a hard copy.
Jacobs offers his counsel with intelligence and liberality, being didactic but not dogmatic. I was most impressed by his use of quotations which as well as being pertinent were a joy to read and opened up new arenas of reading from Machiavelli to David Foster Wallace, via Auden, Zweig, and others. The book ends with 'An Essay on Sources' which, without being a reading list, offers much inspiration.
As well as the beautifully written passages he quotes, Jacobs's own writing is also something to savour; for example in the following passage on the right time to re-read a favourite book:
"Lately I have been asking myself whether I have sufficiently forgotten the details of Patrick O'Brien's novels..that I can return to them with vibrant pleasure. I hover over those memories like a cook over a stewpot: in another year, I think, the books and I will be ready."
Jacobs has thoughtful things to say about the merits of reading on a Kindle or similar device; however, as the 'codex' version of this book is a nicely presented hardback with pleasing typography, I would recommend buying a hard copy.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Pleasures of Reading in An Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs is a little gem. The title immediately resonated with me and what a delight it was to read it. Not long, it is a slender volume but every word is a joy. The author is a great believer in reading on a Whim. "...lists of approved texts can, for some, make reading a drudgery. My son is one such person, it was the Aroma of Responsibility, Obligation and Virtue emanating from such lists that sent him flying".
As a professor of English he is asked for recommended reading lists from his students and he never complies with these requests. the author says that 'in a context of friendship and mutual interest the making of recommendations is a pleasure, outside of that it quickly becomes an onerous duty and I don't like mixing reading with onerous duties'
I could go on quoting this book forever as there are so many things in it with which I am in complete agreement. All book lovers should lay their hands on Alan Jacobs book and peruse from beginning to end. If you don't end up saying out loud Oh Yes and Oh Bang on and Yes I agree then I will be most surprised.
As a professor of English he is asked for recommended reading lists from his students and he never complies with these requests. the author says that 'in a context of friendship and mutual interest the making of recommendations is a pleasure, outside of that it quickly becomes an onerous duty and I don't like mixing reading with onerous duties'
I could go on quoting this book forever as there are so many things in it with which I am in complete agreement. All book lovers should lay their hands on Alan Jacobs book and peruse from beginning to end. If you don't end up saying out loud Oh Yes and Oh Bang on and Yes I agree then I will be most surprised.
Format:Hardcover
What a perfect little book. Both snappy and thoughtful, entertaining and challenging. I loved it.
(I would probably recommend getting a hard copy of this book. I love my kindle, and felt quite smug to be reading all Jacobs' praise of the kindle ON a kindle. However, there are no hyperlinks to the footnotes within the text of the kindle edition, which means I missed reading them in line with the rest of the book. They are entertaining so this was a loss!)
(I would probably recommend getting a hard copy of this book. I love my kindle, and felt quite smug to be reading all Jacobs' praise of the kindle ON a kindle. However, there are no hyperlinks to the footnotes within the text of the kindle edition, which means I missed reading them in line with the rest of the book. They are entertaining so this was a loss!)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Read for pleasure.
This book will encourage you to read more, and to choose books on a whim. The book is written for people who have drifted away from reading, or like many young people, have not... Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. Kinsella
Book
Book was received in a timely fashion and in good shape. Thank you very much. I will order more in the future.
Published 4 months ago by Bob
A Great Read
A pleasure to own. Alan Jacobs book is well written, easy to understand - although it is thought provoking. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Anne Ottery
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