The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

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 re...

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.

艾伦•雅各布斯（Alan Jacobs）

美国贝勒大学荣誉项目人文学科杰出教授、宗教研究系常驻教师。

著有：《纳尼亚传奇：C.S. 刘易斯传》、《原罪：文化史》和《阅读的神学》。

他关于文学、文化的评论作品广泛刊登于《波士顿环球报》、《美国学者》、《牛津美国》等。