UNRAVELING FREEDOM: THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY ON THE HOME FRONT DURING WORLD WAR I. By Ann Bausum. National Geographic Society, 2010. 96 pages.
All the ways the internet promotes superficial reading? Social studies textbooks have picked up on that. Sidebars, inserts, and yes, even links. All from multiple sources. I’m looking at a seventh grade textbook right now which credits seven contributing authors, who have been advised by eleven academic consultants, five reading consultants, and five teacher reviewers. It’s not surprising that its prose is dull.
Making a strong case for eliminating textbooks from the classroom on Edutopia’s site, Shelly Blake-Plock, a Maryland high school teacher, writes, "If textbooks were inspiring and everyone wanted to read them, they'd be at the top of the New York Times' bestseller list."
What kind of history books do draw readers? History buffs like me will tell you they are books by one author with one point of view who knows how to write a good story, people like David McCullough and Daniel Walker Howe. We aren’t interested in textbooks. Why should kids be, even if they are interested in history?
Three books aimed at middle schoolers about World War I have come out in the past year or so. I’ve read and reviewed Russell Freedman’s superb The War to End All Wars. It would be an excellent textbook-less way to begin a study of the Great War for kids hungry for the same kind of history writing their elders seek out.
I’ve yet to read Jim Murphy’s Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting, but I am anxious to, given the quality of his many other books.
Unraveling Freedom would be a wonderful follow-up to The War to End All Wars. In measured words, Ann Bausum skillfully traces the story of a nation that wanted to stay away from European conflict that quickly transformed itself into a patriotic fighting machine. Thoughtfully, she asks her readers to consider the price we are sometimes asked to pay to prove we are loyal and that we support our armed forces.
On the eve of America’s entry into the First World War, Bausum notes that "perhaps as many as a quarter of all Americans had either been born in Germany or had descended from Germans." As readers of Kirby Larson’s Hattie Big Sky (another good one I’d include in my middle school seminar) will remember, life for German-Americans suddenly became quite difficult. Teaching—or speaking—the German language was no longer acceptable. Sauerkraut was re-labeled as liberty cabbage, and hamburgers as liberty steaks. Vigilantes took the law into their own hands, sometimes executing German-Americans.
But beyond the persecution of this significant segment of the population, anti-German hysteria opened the door for government incursion on personal rights our Constitution guarantees. Thousands of Americans, Bausum writes, "found themselves silenced, harassed, or imprisoned because of the Espionage and Sedition Acts." In the war’s aftermath, a small-time bureaucrat in the Justice Department named J. Edgar Hoover used the Red Scare to spy on suspected subversives and to gain his own powerful foothold in the government.
These sorts of actions are not totally unfamiliar to modern Americans, and in a postscript "Guide to Wartime Presidents," Bausum surveys the threat that war can present to democratic institutions, from John Adams to Barack Obama.
Recommended for sixth graders on up
Sunday, December 12, 2010
WORLD OF LEARNING: WHAT WORKS? WORK
"What Works in the Classroom? Ask the Students" New York Times 12/10/10
While this article is about the value of students’ assessment of their teachers, it does have another purpose: coverage of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's report on the findings of its Measures of Effective Teaching Project.
No one can deny that America does not have the good educational system it once did. It seems obvious that the key element of good education is good teachers. But raising a ruckus about that avoids the bigger issue: Are we, as a society (that’s fallen on hard times) willing to pay? If schools are going to attract high quality teachers, throwing the bad ones out, as recently happened in Compton, isn’t enough.
It would be nice if every school district had great schools, whether they were charter or not. How do we get there, though? It’s going to take hard work, and what could be painful allocation of resources.
So often it appears that no one is working, and everyone is shouting--Bill Gates versus Diane Ravitch, and Waiting for Superman versus Race to Nowhere. I know that's not completely true, and that the debate is often pumped up by our media, but when the issue is framed as good guys against bad guys, it's distressing.
Now Michelle Rhee, ousted as the capital’s chief educator as a result of this sort of squabbling, is starting StudentsFirst, what she calls “a national movement to transform public education in our country.”
I hope she and other reformers would begin to make that happen, rather than making noise. As Rhee puts it, enough of us “understand and believe that kids deserve better.”
While this article is about the value of students’ assessment of their teachers, it does have another purpose: coverage of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's report on the findings of its Measures of Effective Teaching Project.
No one can deny that America does not have the good educational system it once did. It seems obvious that the key element of good education is good teachers. But raising a ruckus about that avoids the bigger issue: Are we, as a society (that’s fallen on hard times) willing to pay? If schools are going to attract high quality teachers, throwing the bad ones out, as recently happened in Compton, isn’t enough.
It would be nice if every school district had great schools, whether they were charter or not. How do we get there, though? It’s going to take hard work, and what could be painful allocation of resources.
So often it appears that no one is working, and everyone is shouting--Bill Gates versus Diane Ravitch, and Waiting for Superman versus Race to Nowhere. I know that's not completely true, and that the debate is often pumped up by our media, but when the issue is framed as good guys against bad guys, it's distressing.
Now Michelle Rhee, ousted as the capital’s chief educator as a result of this sort of squabbling, is starting StudentsFirst, what she calls “a national movement to transform public education in our country.”
I hope she and other reformers would begin to make that happen, rather than making noise. As Rhee puts it, enough of us “understand and believe that kids deserve better.”
WORLD OF LEARNING: DIGITAL GAMES AND WORKING MEMORY
"Computer-Based Program May Help Relieve Some ADHD Symptoms in Children" ScienceDaily 12/11/10
Ohio State researchers believe that a software program from Sweden called Cogmed improves working memory.
Ohio State researchers believe that a software program from Sweden called Cogmed improves working memory.
WORLD OF LEARNING: DIETING AND THE POWER OF IMAGINATION
"Just Thinking Harder May Help You Lose Weight" NPR 12/10/10
Carnegie Mellon researchers show the power of imagination and self-visualization.
Carnegie Mellon researchers show the power of imagination and self-visualization.
WORLD OF LEARNING: MAGICAL MOLECULE FOUND IN BRAIN
"Fewer Synapses, More Efficient Learning: Molecular Glue Wires the Brain" ScienceDaily 12/9/10
Despite advaces in technology, "the mechanisms that organize synapses in the living brain remain a puzzle. Yale scientists identified one critical piece of this puzzle, a molecule called SynCAM 1 that spans across synaptic junctions."
Despite advaces in technology, "the mechanisms that organize synapses in the living brain remain a puzzle. Yale scientists identified one critical piece of this puzzle, a molecule called SynCAM 1 that spans across synaptic junctions."
WORLD OF LEARNING: POLITICS AND PERCEPTION
"Politics and Eye Movement: Liberals Focus Their Attention on 'Gaze Cues' Much Differently Than Conservatives Do" ScienceDaily 12/9/10
No comment, except that it makes me feel better about my politics.
No comment, except that it makes me feel better about my politics.
WORLD OF LEARNING: COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT
"Our Brains Are Wired So We Can Better Hear Ourselves Speak" ScienceDaily 12/9/10
More evidence that what we perceive us very much subjective. And that we can't multi-task. The same phenomenon was covered on All Things Considered a few weeks ago in an interesting piece called "Tuning In To The Brain's 'Cocktail Party Effect.'"
More evidence that what we perceive us very much subjective. And that we can't multi-task. The same phenomenon was covered on All Things Considered a few weeks ago in an interesting piece called "Tuning In To The Brain's 'Cocktail Party Effect.'"
WORLD OF LEARNING: "INCREDIBLE PLASTICITY"
"Common Genetic Influences for ADHD and Reading Disability" ScienceDaily 12/8/10
The correlation of cormorbidity examined by the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center is presumed to be "slow processing speed," but this study, at least on the basis of this summary, doesn't address possible diagnostic confusion. Couldn't ADHD behaviors be the product of frustration with the process of decoding/encoding?
The correlation of cormorbidity examined by the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center is presumed to be "slow processing speed," but this study, at least on the basis of this summary, doesn't address possible diagnostic confusion. Couldn't ADHD behaviors be the product of frustration with the process of decoding/encoding?
WORLD OF LEARNING: THE COMPLEX DIAGNOSIS OF DYSLEXIA
"Widening Our Perceptions of Reading and Writing Difficulties" ScienceDaily 12/8/10
An Italian study of spelling's connection to reading difficulty suggests that "knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought," even in "orthographically transparent" languages, while Israeli researchers find evidence for problems that "are not caused by inability to identify letters or convert them to sounds; they result from migrations of letters between words."
An Italian study of spelling's connection to reading difficulty suggests that "knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought," even in "orthographically transparent" languages, while Israeli researchers find evidence for problems that "are not caused by inability to identify letters or convert them to sounds; they result from migrations of letters between words."
LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF JO NESBO'S "DOCTOR PROCTOR'S FART POWDER"
DOCTOR PROCTOR'S FART POWDER. By Jo Nesbo. Illustrated by Mike Lowery. Translated by Tara Chace. Aladdin, 2011 (paperback), 2010, 2008.
The chief selling point of Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder is blatantly obvious. You would be hard pressed to find a child who didn’t think flatulence funny. And this isn’t normal gas. We’re talking about explosive power that makes the earwax press into your head while your eyes press out of it. Even more appealing, it’s odorless.
The good doctor, the eccentric of his sedate neighborhood, lives on the Oslo fjord, tinkering on new inventions that, like a powder intended to prevent hay fever, generally disappoint him. When a new kid of Lilliputian size named Nilly moves onto quiet Cannon Street, things are going to change, and not just because of his irreverent attitude or loud trumpet playing.
He boosts the confidence of the girl next door, Lisa, and becomes her best friend. They help Doctor Proctor to see that his powder does not have to serve any more useful purpose than making children laugh in order to be profitable. Nilly delivers a proper comeuppance to the bullies who rule Cannon Street, Truls and Trym Trane.
There’s much more to the story, though, including an anaconda sliding through the sluices of the Oslo Municipal Sewer and Drainage Company, huge servings of Jell-O, and the Big and Almost World-Famous Royal Salute at Akershus Fortress, the city’s ancient protector, in honor of Norway’s Independence Day every May 17.
As you can tell, Jo Nesbo, better known for his adult crime novels, has no higher goal here than unadulterated silliness. What’s wrong with that? Widely spaced print lines and lots of charmingly primitive drawings by Mike Lowery make this slapstick saga easy to read. There are absolutely no stumbling blocks in Tara Chase’s adept translation.
Recommended for third graders on up.
The chief selling point of Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder is blatantly obvious. You would be hard pressed to find a child who didn’t think flatulence funny. And this isn’t normal gas. We’re talking about explosive power that makes the earwax press into your head while your eyes press out of it. Even more appealing, it’s odorless.
The good doctor, the eccentric of his sedate neighborhood, lives on the Oslo fjord, tinkering on new inventions that, like a powder intended to prevent hay fever, generally disappoint him. When a new kid of Lilliputian size named Nilly moves onto quiet Cannon Street, things are going to change, and not just because of his irreverent attitude or loud trumpet playing.
He boosts the confidence of the girl next door, Lisa, and becomes her best friend. They help Doctor Proctor to see that his powder does not have to serve any more useful purpose than making children laugh in order to be profitable. Nilly delivers a proper comeuppance to the bullies who rule Cannon Street, Truls and Trym Trane.
There’s much more to the story, though, including an anaconda sliding through the sluices of the Oslo Municipal Sewer and Drainage Company, huge servings of Jell-O, and the Big and Almost World-Famous Royal Salute at Akershus Fortress, the city’s ancient protector, in honor of Norway’s Independence Day every May 17.
As you can tell, Jo Nesbo, better known for his adult crime novels, has no higher goal here than unadulterated silliness. What’s wrong with that? Widely spaced print lines and lots of charmingly primitive drawings by Mike Lowery make this slapstick saga easy to read. There are absolutely no stumbling blocks in Tara Chase’s adept translation.
Recommended for third graders on up.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
MY REVIEW OF LIBBA BRAY'S "GOING BOVINE"
GOING BOVINE. By Libba Bray. Delacorte, 2009. 480 pages.
Fun and funny enough to have kept me going to the end, but geez, Bray, in line with her name, paints with a broad brush. She gets by on brashness, and tosses out anything that is even close to subtle. Forget about nuance with Going Bovine.
The premise—sixteen-year-old slacker from severely dysfunctional family gets mad cow disease and goes on hallucinatory quest to find Dr. X and save the universe with hypochondriac midget, talking gnome lawn ornament, and riot-grrrl angel as sidekicks—should have warned me about what to expect.
The tilting-at-windmills quality of someone on his deathbed accepting an impossible mission should clue the reader into Bray’s nod to Cervantes, but in case the reader doesn't get it, the author lets you know that she does, more than a few times. She also leaves you in no doubt about how she feels about the crass, shallow, humorless, merciless, materialistic culture of consumerism in which she is marketing Going Bovine. '
Bray is so consumed with setting ‘em up and knocking ‘em down that her protagonist, Cameron, who might be kind of sweet if he just poked his head out of the cloud of pot smoke that continually surrounds him, hardly seems to matter. He’s just a vehicle who can enter places like CESSNAB (Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack-’N’-Bowl), so that Bray can rip into the sleazy superficiality of it all. Balder, the Nordic yard decoration, has more personality, and integrity.
It’s Vonnegut on steroids, and Bray leaps into the fray with such gusto that she pulled me along for the ride, even as I tried to dig in my heels and slow things down enough to jump off. Sheer outrageousness is worth something. Libba Bray milks every last drop. She’s determined to be the most unwimpy YA writer on the block. I’d have to say she’s pretty successful.
Recommended for seventh graders on up, if you feel comfortable with substance abuse, iterations of the F-word, a graphic description of crummy copulation, and a coy recounting of celestial sex.
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Fun and funny enough to have kept me going to the end, but geez, Bray, in line with her name, paints with a broad brush. She gets by on brashness, and tosses out anything that is even close to subtle. Forget about nuance with Going Bovine.
The premise—sixteen-year-old slacker from severely dysfunctional family gets mad cow disease and goes on hallucinatory quest to find Dr. X and save the universe with hypochondriac midget, talking gnome lawn ornament, and riot-grrrl angel as sidekicks—should have warned me about what to expect.
The tilting-at-windmills quality of someone on his deathbed accepting an impossible mission should clue the reader into Bray’s nod to Cervantes, but in case the reader doesn't get it, the author lets you know that she does, more than a few times. She also leaves you in no doubt about how she feels about the crass, shallow, humorless, merciless, materialistic culture of consumerism in which she is marketing Going Bovine. '
Bray is so consumed with setting ‘em up and knocking ‘em down that her protagonist, Cameron, who might be kind of sweet if he just poked his head out of the cloud of pot smoke that continually surrounds him, hardly seems to matter. He’s just a vehicle who can enter places like CESSNAB (Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack-’N’-Bowl), so that Bray can rip into the sleazy superficiality of it all. Balder, the Nordic yard decoration, has more personality, and integrity.
It’s Vonnegut on steroids, and Bray leaps into the fray with such gusto that she pulled me along for the ride, even as I tried to dig in my heels and slow things down enough to jump off. Sheer outrageousness is worth something. Libba Bray milks every last drop. She’s determined to be the most unwimpy YA writer on the block. I’d have to say she’s pretty successful.
Recommended for seventh graders on up, if you feel comfortable with substance abuse, iterations of the F-word, a graphic description of crummy copulation, and a coy recounting of celestial sex.
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LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF ELISE BROACH'S "MASTERPIECE"
MASTERPIECE. By Elise Broach. Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Feiwel and Friends, 2010 (paperback), 2008. 304 pages.
E.B. White, George Selden. Sophisticated little animals. Manhattanites of yesteryear, with their glib savoir faire and urban obtuseness. Witty, well-chosen language. It’s counterintuitive that it still sells.
Stuart Little and The Cricket in Times Square still do, thankfully. People just won’t give up on literate, if retrograde, children’s literature, because reading it, particularly reading it aloud, remains such a delight.
Masterpiece could have been published 50 years ago with hardly a raised eyebrow at anachronism. It’s the story of a family of beetles (they wouldn’t be cockroaches, would they, even if that is far more likely) who live under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ (love that) apartment.
James Pompaday, an insecure eleven-year-old, forms a secret friendship with the artistic member of the beetle family, Marvin. Because of Marvin’s skill, James’s superficial mother and stepfather, as well as his earnest, estranged father—there’s something that might not have flown in 1960—come to believe that James can use pen and ink as adroitly as, say, Albrecht Durer.
It’s a clever premise that allows Elise Broach to introduce young readers to the world of medieval art curatorship, and more thrillingly, to the history of art theft. It’s up to James, and especially Marvin, to solve a most daring heist—from the New York Museum of Modern Art, no less.
Marvin, James, and the lovely MOMA caretaker Christina Balcony are an engaging trio of lead characters. The Pompadays and Marvin’s family add some nice comic relief. Kelly Murphy’s pen-and-ink illustrations are a perfect thematic match with the text, a mystery that holds onto the necessary suspense and excitement.
Broach’s homage to White and Selden earns her a place on bookshelves next to them.
Recommended for fourth graders on up.
E.B. White, George Selden. Sophisticated little animals. Manhattanites of yesteryear, with their glib savoir faire and urban obtuseness. Witty, well-chosen language. It’s counterintuitive that it still sells.
Stuart Little and The Cricket in Times Square still do, thankfully. People just won’t give up on literate, if retrograde, children’s literature, because reading it, particularly reading it aloud, remains such a delight.
Masterpiece could have been published 50 years ago with hardly a raised eyebrow at anachronism. It’s the story of a family of beetles (they wouldn’t be cockroaches, would they, even if that is far more likely) who live under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ (love that) apartment.
James Pompaday, an insecure eleven-year-old, forms a secret friendship with the artistic member of the beetle family, Marvin. Because of Marvin’s skill, James’s superficial mother and stepfather, as well as his earnest, estranged father—there’s something that might not have flown in 1960—come to believe that James can use pen and ink as adroitly as, say, Albrecht Durer.
It’s a clever premise that allows Elise Broach to introduce young readers to the world of medieval art curatorship, and more thrillingly, to the history of art theft. It’s up to James, and especially Marvin, to solve a most daring heist—from the New York Museum of Modern Art, no less.
Marvin, James, and the lovely MOMA caretaker Christina Balcony are an engaging trio of lead characters. The Pompadays and Marvin’s family add some nice comic relief. Kelly Murphy’s pen-and-ink illustrations are a perfect thematic match with the text, a mystery that holds onto the necessary suspense and excitement.
Broach’s homage to White and Selden earns her a place on bookshelves next to them.
Recommended for fourth graders on up.
LARS'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON'S "FORGE"
FORGE. By Laurie Halse Anderson. Atheneum, 2010. 304 pages.
Unlike Chains, its War of Independence predecessor, Forge wastes no time getting in gear. Curzon, a young slave whom we had last seen as his friend Isabel rescued him from a British prison ship, is almost immediately thrown into the Battles of Saratoga.
As fighting overtakes him, Curzon hides in the woods, only to witness a showdown between a redcoat and a Patriot soldier. The Continental, fumbling to reload his flintlock, looks to be an easy target. Then Curzon unleashes a rock at the British soldier. His shot goes awry. The American fires and a musket ball tears the Englishman’s guts open.
With a riveting beginning like that, Forge can’t go wrong. I felt that the first half of Chains was dragged down by the relationship between Isabel and her developmentally delayed sister, Ruth. Anderson’s explanation of that relationship held up the action. No such problem here. Ruth is not in this one at all.
Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, demonstrating to the French that the rebels had a viable army that was capable of defeating the mighty British Empire. But with Philadelphia occupied, the Americans’ cause was hardly assured. They really proved their mettle by surviving the winter at Valley Forge.
Curzon, who befriends the American soldier and enlists in the Continental Army, also survives Valley Forge. His friend Eben, a wonderful character delightfully drawn by Anderson, is forced to look at slavery in a new light, due to the bond he forms with the black teenager who saves his life.
Curzon believes his service under General Washington means that he is now free, but soon finds out that white men don’t have to keep their word—if it’s given to a slave. His old master appears at the encampment and reclaims his property. There is one benefit for Curzon: Bellingham also owns Isabel.
How she and Curzon, both so strong-willed, face the injustice of their condition, as well as their feelings for each other, makes for an engrossing tale, told with drama and humor.
I listened to Forge, and was not particularly taken by the narrator, Tim Cain. However, the first person voice of Curzon and the fast-paced story line erased any difficulties with Cain’s mediocre delivery. Anderson’s second installment in her Seeds of America trilogy gives young readers a galvanizing look at this important period in American history.
Recommended for fifth graders on up.
Unlike Chains, its War of Independence predecessor, Forge wastes no time getting in gear. Curzon, a young slave whom we had last seen as his friend Isabel rescued him from a British prison ship, is almost immediately thrown into the Battles of Saratoga.
As fighting overtakes him, Curzon hides in the woods, only to witness a showdown between a redcoat and a Patriot soldier. The Continental, fumbling to reload his flintlock, looks to be an easy target. Then Curzon unleashes a rock at the British soldier. His shot goes awry. The American fires and a musket ball tears the Englishman’s guts open.
With a riveting beginning like that, Forge can’t go wrong. I felt that the first half of Chains was dragged down by the relationship between Isabel and her developmentally delayed sister, Ruth. Anderson’s explanation of that relationship held up the action. No such problem here. Ruth is not in this one at all.
Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, demonstrating to the French that the rebels had a viable army that was capable of defeating the mighty British Empire. But with Philadelphia occupied, the Americans’ cause was hardly assured. They really proved their mettle by surviving the winter at Valley Forge.
Curzon, who befriends the American soldier and enlists in the Continental Army, also survives Valley Forge. His friend Eben, a wonderful character delightfully drawn by Anderson, is forced to look at slavery in a new light, due to the bond he forms with the black teenager who saves his life.
Curzon believes his service under General Washington means that he is now free, but soon finds out that white men don’t have to keep their word—if it’s given to a slave. His old master appears at the encampment and reclaims his property. There is one benefit for Curzon: Bellingham also owns Isabel.
How she and Curzon, both so strong-willed, face the injustice of their condition, as well as their feelings for each other, makes for an engrossing tale, told with drama and humor.
I listened to Forge, and was not particularly taken by the narrator, Tim Cain. However, the first person voice of Curzon and the fast-paced story line erased any difficulties with Cain’s mediocre delivery. Anderson’s second installment in her Seeds of America trilogy gives young readers a galvanizing look at this important period in American history.
Recommended for fifth graders on up.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
LAR'S LIBRARY: JANE YOLEN
On NPR's site, you can listen to a nice profile of Jane Yolen, author of 300 children's books. Good books.
WORLD OF LEARNING: THE INTERSECTION OF EDUCATION AND NEUROSCIENCE
"Neuro Myths: Separating Fact and Fiction in Brain-Based Learning" Edutopia 12/8/10
"Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain" Edutopia 12/8/10
"To Enable Learning, Put (Emotional) Safety First" Edutopia 12/8/10
Edutopia pieces that are not a bad little intro to the intersection of education and neuroscience, leaning heavily on interviews with Judy Willis, neurologist/teacher and author of some easy-to-read books on brain science and education, as well as Harvard's Kurt Fischer.
"Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain" Edutopia 12/8/10
"To Enable Learning, Put (Emotional) Safety First" Edutopia 12/8/10
Edutopia pieces that are not a bad little intro to the intersection of education and neuroscience, leaning heavily on interviews with Judy Willis, neurologist/teacher and author of some easy-to-read books on brain science and education, as well as Harvard's Kurt Fischer.
WORLD OF LEARNING: ANCIENT PUZZLES, HOW TO SOLVE PUZZLES
"Math Puzzles’ Oldest Ancestors Took Form on Egyptian Papyrus" New York Times 12/6/10
"Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving" New York Times 12/6/10
The first Times article looks at ancient Egyptian puzzles to show that "people of all eras and cultures gravitate toward puzzles because puzzles have solutions." The second is by the inestimable Benedict Carey and delves into the best way to find solutions: relaxing with a bit of humor and being open to the unexpected, balanced with good old discipline.
"Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving" New York Times 12/6/10
The first Times article looks at ancient Egyptian puzzles to show that "people of all eras and cultures gravitate toward puzzles because puzzles have solutions." The second is by the inestimable Benedict Carey and delves into the best way to find solutions: relaxing with a bit of humor and being open to the unexpected, balanced with good old discipline.
WORLD OF LEARNING: VISION VS. SEEING
"Brain's Architecture Makes Our View of the World Unique" ScienceDaily 12/6/10
I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's fascinating. The way we see is not only a product of the quality of our eyesight, but also the way the visual areas of our brains process what the eyes "see."
I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's fascinating. The way we see is not only a product of the quality of our eyesight, but also the way the visual areas of our brains process what the eyes "see."
Sunday, December 5, 2010
WORLD OF LEARNING: MY REVIEW OF "THE LOST ART OF READING"
THE LOST ART OF READING: WHY BOOKS MATTER IN A DISTRACTED TIME. By David L. Ulin. Sasquatch Books, 2010. 151 pages.
In The Shallows, a book quoted from liberally in The Lost Art of Reading, Nicholas Carr notes the way that older technologies are changing because of digital computers. Newspapers and magazines feature shorter articles, more color, more graphics, pull quotes, navigational aids, summaries. "Crawls" and "flippers" clutter TV screens. DVD viewers jump into online conversations about scenes as they watch them. Tweets explain musical reference points to concertgoers who are encouraged to text message back.
It’s true, it’s true. But I’m not so sure about Carr’s take on libraries. Perhaps in the initial days of digital mania, their "most popular service" quickly became internet access. At my local library, there has been a steady increase in the number of internet stations, and they are heavily used. But unlike the old days, it’s not that hard to find one that’s open.
As more and more people carry along their own laptops, their own digital phones and pads everywhere they go, they could care less about using someone else’s. It might be true, as Carr says, that "the predominant sound in the modern library is the tapping of keys, not the turning of pages." But the primary reason people are going to my library is its stock in trade: books.
There’s no doubt that the way we read and even, perhaps, the amount of books we read, is changing. But fading out altogether? Maybe I’m myopic, but I don’t think so. There’s something you get from a book that you can’t get from any other medium.
Books by nature eliminate distractions, rather than multiplying them. They have what Ulin calls a "nearly magical power to transport us to other landscapes, other lives." Books demand total engagement, and that is why they have such paradoxical force. It’s rather odd that the quiet act of reading a book may be more interactive than looking at the most noisy and colorful web site. Instead of pulling us toward the next and then the next exciting image, they demand that we make our own images.
What is becoming harder, as Ulin notes, is finding the time and place for that total engagement. "Language is internal," he says. "And yet, what do we do in a culture where we are constantly invited to step out of the frame, to externalize imagination and to rethink how the process works?"
That is what The Lost Art of Reading is all about. It’s not an obituary at all, and Ulin is quite realistic about what is happening. He is not saying we have to adjust for new technology; as Nicholas Carr points out, the new technology has already adjusted us. Ulin is searching for a way we can incorporate the old, because we need it.
Beyond the attractions of books as "ripcords, escape hatches, portals out of…life," the deep reading they require engenders the deep thought that we have to do to face a forbidding future. The polarized debate that keeps us glued to screens just perpetuates confirmation bias. Resolving problems means focusing on them longer than a soundbite.
"If we frame every situation in terms of right and wrong," Ulin writes, "we never have to wrestle with complexity; if we define the world in narrow bands of black and white, we don’t have to parse out endless shades of gray." He effectively quotes Fitzgerald: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." Books push us beyond our preconceptions.
Reading books, of course, is hardly a silver bullet, but Ulin makes an impassioned case for finding the space in our distractible culture for what has become, thanks to the book, an elemental part of our humanity.
Ulin doesn’t believe "that anything is lasting; all of it will be taken from us at the end. Chaos, entropy…the best that we can hope for are a few transcendent moments, in which we bridge the gap of our loneliness and come together with another human being. That is what reading has always meant to me and what, even more, it means to me now."
Highly recommended.
In The Shallows, a book quoted from liberally in The Lost Art of Reading, Nicholas Carr notes the way that older technologies are changing because of digital computers. Newspapers and magazines feature shorter articles, more color, more graphics, pull quotes, navigational aids, summaries. "Crawls" and "flippers" clutter TV screens. DVD viewers jump into online conversations about scenes as they watch them. Tweets explain musical reference points to concertgoers who are encouraged to text message back.
It’s true, it’s true. But I’m not so sure about Carr’s take on libraries. Perhaps in the initial days of digital mania, their "most popular service" quickly became internet access. At my local library, there has been a steady increase in the number of internet stations, and they are heavily used. But unlike the old days, it’s not that hard to find one that’s open.
As more and more people carry along their own laptops, their own digital phones and pads everywhere they go, they could care less about using someone else’s. It might be true, as Carr says, that "the predominant sound in the modern library is the tapping of keys, not the turning of pages." But the primary reason people are going to my library is its stock in trade: books.
There’s no doubt that the way we read and even, perhaps, the amount of books we read, is changing. But fading out altogether? Maybe I’m myopic, but I don’t think so. There’s something you get from a book that you can’t get from any other medium.
Books by nature eliminate distractions, rather than multiplying them. They have what Ulin calls a "nearly magical power to transport us to other landscapes, other lives." Books demand total engagement, and that is why they have such paradoxical force. It’s rather odd that the quiet act of reading a book may be more interactive than looking at the most noisy and colorful web site. Instead of pulling us toward the next and then the next exciting image, they demand that we make our own images.
What is becoming harder, as Ulin notes, is finding the time and place for that total engagement. "Language is internal," he says. "And yet, what do we do in a culture where we are constantly invited to step out of the frame, to externalize imagination and to rethink how the process works?"
That is what The Lost Art of Reading is all about. It’s not an obituary at all, and Ulin is quite realistic about what is happening. He is not saying we have to adjust for new technology; as Nicholas Carr points out, the new technology has already adjusted us. Ulin is searching for a way we can incorporate the old, because we need it.
Beyond the attractions of books as "ripcords, escape hatches, portals out of…life," the deep reading they require engenders the deep thought that we have to do to face a forbidding future. The polarized debate that keeps us glued to screens just perpetuates confirmation bias. Resolving problems means focusing on them longer than a soundbite.
"If we frame every situation in terms of right and wrong," Ulin writes, "we never have to wrestle with complexity; if we define the world in narrow bands of black and white, we don’t have to parse out endless shades of gray." He effectively quotes Fitzgerald: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." Books push us beyond our preconceptions.
Reading books, of course, is hardly a silver bullet, but Ulin makes an impassioned case for finding the space in our distractible culture for what has become, thanks to the book, an elemental part of our humanity.
Ulin doesn’t believe "that anything is lasting; all of it will be taken from us at the end. Chaos, entropy…the best that we can hope for are a few transcendent moments, in which we bridge the gap of our loneliness and come together with another human being. That is what reading has always meant to me and what, even more, it means to me now."
Highly recommended.
LARS'S LIBRARY: YEAR-END LISTS
So far I've got the New York Times' Notable Children's Books of 2010 and Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010, Publisher's Weekly's Best Children's Books 2010, Kirkus Review's 2010 Best Children's Books, School Library Journal's Best Books 2010: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Picture Book, and peerless NYC librarian and SLJ's own Elizabeth Bird's 100 Magnificent Children's Books of 2010.
WORLD OF LEARNING: VISION THERAPY
"Ophthalmologists express skepticism about vision therapy" St. Louis Beacon 11/30/10
A measured, if somewhat negative, look at vision therapy.
A measured, if somewhat negative, look at vision therapy.
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