A leggy, fascinating survey of a discipline that is often taken for granted.
From its inception, the science of reading has been intertwined with American anxieties about culture.
The science of reading, writes history professor Johns, began in the latter decades of the 19th century, as the proliferation of print in American life gave rise to worries that it would overwhelm a vulnerable public. The nascent field of experimental psychology studied the process of reading, developing two instruments that would be improved upon and used for decades to come: the tachistoscope, which measured how well subjects recognized words; and the eye-movement camera, which recorded the behavior of subjects’ eyes as they read passages of text. The author’s account ranges back and forth, tracing his topic’s implication in eugenics, adaptation to improvements in World War II aircraft cockpit design, adoption by industry to improve the efficiency of the workforce, and incorporation into modern machine-reading technology. It’s a mammoth subject, and Johns takes some detours to explore, for instance, mid-20th-century librarianship’s adoption of the tools of science to expand its mission. In a later chapter on “the reading wars,” the author delves into Rudolf Flesch’s highly influential 1955 jeremiad, Why Johnny Can’t Read, but those who have familiarity with the push-pull between whole-language and phonics-based teaching will have seen the planting of those seeds in the dismayed discovery that the early-20th-century turn toward science-based instruction in silent reading revealed a population of students with dyslexia. Johns’ argument that this “Manichean dualism” has fed today’s popular suspicion of scientific expertise is dismally convincing. The commercialization of the science of reading is also a constant, seen in the line of products leading from the Ophthalm-O-Graph through the Talking Typewriter, the Dynabook, and Hooked on Phonics, as well as such contemporary products as Feng-GUI and Microsoft’s MCR. Illustrations include laboratory photographs of subjects at formidable-looking testing apparatus and equally daunting diagrams that attest to researchers’ efforts.
A leggy, fascinating survey of a discipline that is often taken for granted.Pub Date: April 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780226821481
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Univ. of Chicago
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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