Thursday, February 28, 2008

what are you reading right now: february 2008


at the moment i am reading "the proust and the squid". not only is it a clever and facinating read but it has a terrificly designed book jacket.

here's a description from publisher's weekly because i'm at work right now and can't go on and on about the book...besides i'm only on page 60 or so.

Starred Review. Wolf, a professor of child development at Tufts University, integrates psychology and archaeology, linguistics and education, history and neuroscience in a truly path-breaking look at the development of the reading brain-a complicated phenomenon that Wolf seeks to chronicle from both the early history of humanity and the early stages of an individual's development ("unlike its component parts such as vision and speech... reading has no direct genetic program passing it on to future generations"). Along the way, Wolf introduces concepts like "word poverty," the situation in which children, by age five, have heard 32 million less words than their counterparts (with chilling long-term effects), and makes time for amusing and affecting anecdotes, like the only child she knew to fake a reading disorder (attempting to get back into his beloved literacy training program). Though it could probably command a book of its own, the sizable third section of the book covers the complex topic of dyslexia, explaining clearly and expertly "what happens when the brain can't learn to read." One of those rare books that synthesizes cutting edge, interdisciplinary research with the inviting tone of a curious, erudite friend (think Malcolm Gladwell), Wolf's first book for a general audience is an eye-opening winner, and deserves a wide readership. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

two days ago i received my peter rabbit necklace in the mail from etsy seller arete.


she also sent me a free scrabble necklace with my first initial. "r" for rizie!


i loves etsy!

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