We have become cynical readers – we read in the disjointed, goal-oriented way that online life encourages & we stop exercising our attention. We read just as much if not more. We live in a text-gorged society in which the most fleeting thought is a thumb-dash away from posterity. It's how we read that changed.

Cynical Readers

A book is really just a reverse-engineered TED Talk. It's a platform that lets you do a speaking tour.

Books as a marketing platform

One famous study found humans would rather give themselves electric shocks than sitting alone with their thoughts for 10 minutes.

We are primed for distractions

Not every emotion can be reduced to an emoji, and not every thought can be conveyed via tweet.

Online life makes us into a new kind of reader: Our attention fractures. Online reading is about clicks, and comments, and points. The opposite of the traditional reading experience, with lineal structure, that demands our full attention.

Reading in the digital age

Author of Solitude: A Singular Life in a Crowded World and The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in an Age of Constant Connection. Turning, one evening, from my phone to a book, I set myself the task of reading a single chapter in one sitting. Simple. But I couldn't.

Reading in the digital age

I have forgotten how to read

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

How to read self-help

How To Read More Books

The Simple System I'm Using to Read 30+ Books Per Year