Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It by Mark Seidenberg

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LANGUAGE AT THE SPEED OF SIGHT: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It

by Mark Seidenberg

Reading is something that we almost always do at a subconscious level: we do not think about it, and for good reason, since we need to concentrate on the result — the content of what we have been reading, that is — and not the process. … Much of the author’s research, and a sizable portion of this book, concerns dyslexia, a phenomenon that turns on anatomical properties of the brain in which “signal propagation between and within regions seems to be…noisier” … Broader familiarity with the science of reading, he suggests, would be of use at the policy level as well, since so much of it is based on assumptions concerning problems of social engineering — poverty, household makeup, and so forth.

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Alex Samuels was a reporter for The Texas Tribune from 2017 to 2021. She helped with national campaign coverage, wrote stories about the intersection of race and politics in Texas, and covered the hottest...