Book Review: Reader,Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World

Insightful and Pragmatic

As a cognitive neuroscientist, Wolf has spent much of her life conducting extensive research into how the brain works. In her second letter, she explains the “multiple, simultaneously happening operations in the reading brain” with a delightful analogy of a three-ring circus, or the “Cicuit du Soleil,” to help the reader visualize the complexity and “magic” of the process (pp. 20–34). The neurological processes described in this chapter illuminate both the act of learning to read, beginning with the recognition of a single letter, and an overview of the complex connections required for comprehension to occur.

Wolf’s third letter titled “Deep Reading: Is it Endangered?” delves into her layered understanding of what it means to read deeply, beginning with an explanation of the remarkable neurological exchanges required to comprehend a single sentence and then shifting into an in-depth description of the evocative, analytical, and generative processes that constitute deep reading. With a caveat stating, “The deep reading processes described here are not meant as an exclusive list, nor do they appear in the brain in any single sequence or configuration” (p. 40), Wolf launches into a discussion of imagery, empathy, background knowledge, analogy, inference, critical analysis, and deep reading’s generative processes.

Once Wolf has set the stage by describing the complex neurological processes involved in learning to read and in developing deeper comprehension skills, she addresses her concerns for modern readers in this digital age with her fourth letter. In particular, Wolf focuses on the concept of attention, describing what she calls “the fundamental tension between our evolutionary wiring and contemporary culture” (p. 70). Describing the human brain’s development of “novelty bias”—a survival technique that makes humans hyperaware of every new environmental stimulus—Wolf makes the case that our human instinct to pay attention to anything new (i.e., digital stimuli) is reshaping our brains and leading to partial attention, constant need for new stimuli, rapid task switching, and “a low-level threshold of boredom” (p. 71). The remainder of the letter discusses how this inundation of digital media negatively affects how much we read, how we read, and the quality of what we read.

In Letters 5, 6, and 7, Wolf presents what she would want “an ideal reading life for children from infancy to ten years to look like, given our current knowledge” (p. 127). She follows this up with her eighth letter, where she proposes a purposeful approach to literacy in this new age. Basing her ideas on processes similar to what bilingual children experience as they learn multiple languages, Wolf argues for the development of the “biliterate brain.” She envisions a world in which children are taught to read in both print and digital formats, with emphasis on knowing which strategies work best for which type of reading, developing digital wisdom, and learning “a stunning variety of creative digital-based skills” (p. 174), including coding, graphic art, musical compositions, and robotics.

Eloquent and Accessible

One might expect a book focused on the science of reading to be somewhat mechanical and esoteric, but the opposite is true. As I read the book, I often found myself noticing how beautifully written it is. Wolf’s love of literature is apparent throughout her letters. In an almost lyrical way, she weaves quotations from writers and philosophers into her writing, creating unexpected connections and vivid imagery for the reader. Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins, Socrates, Rainer Maria Rilke, Aristotle, and Marcel Proust are just a few of the voices who make their way into Wolf’s letters, linking their musings from the past to Wolf’s hopes and fears about our collective literacy future.

In addition, Wolf demonstrates her understanding of how the brain processes information through her clear structure and arrangement of ideas. Her introductory letter acts as a blueprint for the book, preparing the reader for what is to come and how to mentally organize the complex information. Each letter builds on the one before it, leading the reader down a logical path of understanding how the brain works, how it is changing, and how we can adapt to best support those changes.

Hopeful and Challenging

Far from being a gloom and doom description of how the children of today will never reach the levels of past generations, Wolf takes a realistic, almost optimistic stance regarding the future of reading. While she does raise concerns over whether or not the readers of today will be able to develop the critical thinking skills, imagination, and empathy that result from deeper reading, she also points to research that demonstrates new skills and strengths that seem to be appearing. She calls for further research, better training for educators, and increased access to technology for all students. Her words are a challenge to teachers, parents, administrators, and policy makers to be purposeful as we guide these next generations into a new phase of literacy.

Personal

It is not until the closing chapters that the reader understands the full implications of the title, Reader, Come Home. Throughout her nine letters, the author speaks directly to her readers in a familiar, almost intimate tone. In the final chapter, Wolf encourages us to look into our own reading lives and reflect on how we have evolved. Using herself as an example, Wolf points out how susceptible we can be to the temptations of the digital world and encourages her readers to make the time and space necessary to recover the reflective reading life we once knew. This section was particularly eye-opening for me. As a parent, a full-time language arts teacher, and a doctoral student, much of the reading I do feels rushed, compulsory, and distracted. For those of us who once got into trouble for staying up too late to read with a flashlight under the covers, Wolf’s words serve as a hopeful reminder that it is not too late for our malleable reading brains to return to that place of contemplation and reflection.

Final Thoughts

While no book can purport to fully elaborate on a topic, especially one as complex as the neuroscience of the reading brain in a digital world, Wolf’s work is comprehensive and informative. However, I did find myself experiencing reservations about certain assertions made in the book. Wolf’s suggestion that critical thinking, empathy, imagination, and foundations of knowledge can only be built through the deep reading of print texts struck me as unfounded. While I agree that deep reading often results in these skills, it seems inaccurate to say that this is the only or best way to develop them. In addition, although Wolf devoted her eighth letter to the development of a “biliterate” brain, her proposal was not as thorough as I expected it to be, especially as it might apply to the readers we are raising right now. As a reader, I felt as though the entire book was leading up to this point, so this chapter struck me as somewhat anticlimactic. Finally, although Wolf points out problems with teacher training and student access to digital learning formats, she does not offer much in the way of specific, realistic solutions for these issues.

Although her proposal may not be fully developed, it is a starting point in a world where most of us are still floundering in survival mode. There is so much that we do not yet know about the effects of new technologies on the human brain, and even that information seems to be changing constantly. Only time and further research will lead us to the answers we seek. In the meantime, Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World offers a critical foundation that educators, researchers, and parents need right now.