Best Of: This Is Your Brain on Deep Reading. It’s Pretty Magnificent.

Every day, we consume a mind-boggling amount of information. We scan online news articles, sift through text messages and emails, scroll through our social-media feeds - and that’s usually before we even get out of bed in the morning. In 2009, a team of researchers found that the average American consumed about 34 gigabytes (www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/te...) of information a day. Undoubtedly, that number would be even higher today.
But what are we actually getting from this huge influx of information? How is it affecting our memories, our attention spans, our ability to think? What might this mean for today’s children, and future generations? And what does it take to read - and think - deeply in a world so flooded with constant input?
Maryanne Wolf is a researcher and scholar at U.C.L.A.’s School of Education and Information Studies. Her books “Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (www.harpercollins.com/product...) ” and “Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (www.harpercollins.com/product...) ” explore the relationship between the process of reading and the neuroscience of the brain. And, in Wolf’s view, our era of information overload represents a historical inflection point where our ability to read - truly, deeply read, not just scan or scroll - hangs in the balance.
In this conversation, recorded in November 2022, we discuss why reading is a fundamentally “unnatural” act, how scanning and scrolling differ from “deep reading,” why it’s not accurate to say that “reading” is just one thing, how our brains process information differently when we’re reading on a Kindle or a laptop as opposed to a physical book, how exposure to such an abundance of information is rewiring our brains and reshaping our society, how to rediscover the lost art of reading books deeply, what Wolf recommends to those of us who struggle against digital distractions, what parents can do to to protect their children’s attention, how Wolf’s theory of a “biliterate brain” may save our species’ ability to deeply process language and information and more.
We’ll be back on Friday, Dec. 1, with a new episode.
Mentioned:
The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) (us.macmillan.com/books/978031...) by Hermann Hesse
How We Read Now (global.oup.com/academic/produ...) by Naomi S. Baron
The Shallows (wwnorton.com/books/9780393357820) by Nicholas Carr
Yiruma (open.spotify.com/artist/0fauH...)
Book Recommendations:
The Gilead Novels (us.macmillan.com/books/978037...) by Marilynne Robinson
World and Town (www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...) by Gish Jen
Standing by Words (www.counterpointpress.com/dd-...) by Wendell Berry
Love’s Mind (www.google.com/books/edition/...) by John S. Dunne
Middlemarch (www.gutenberg.org/files/145/1...) by George Eliot
Thoughts? Email us at [e-mail]. (And if you’re reaching out to recommend a guest, please write “Guest Suggestion” in the subject line.)
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast (www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-k...) , and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-... (www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-...) .
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rogé Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.

[@Steelblaidd]

Time is the most valuable non renewable resource. Finding time and mental energy to read deeply is so hard these days.

[@Pj-ey5fl]

First I ever heard of the term deep reading. I found this really interesting because some time ago I started doing what I call mindful reading. In some ways similar to what is described here but with a twist. I would read out loud to myself very slowly and deliberately, paying attention to every word I said. I started mindfulness reading because I started noticing cognitive difficulties in myself, I had no basis for this but I do believe it helped me on many levels. I think it helped my mindfulness practice, but the act of reading out loud seemed to help my brain. I was having difficulty with my memory and mindfulness. Reading seemed to help this in a way I cannot explain.

[@ceceliablair9177]

I found that I remember what I hear outloud a lot more than I just read silently. So facts I want to remember now (in old age) I repeat to myself outloud. But deep reading, which I do silently, I do at the speed of conversation only. I “hear” my silent reading internally, and feel it the way I would in a conversation too.

[@YoYo-gt5iq]

Professor had us listen to this in advance of our first class.

[@peterfazio9306]

Wow. This is NUTS! What a gut punch. As parents, we MUST tackle this in our kids' lives.

[@danielpincus221]

I've never had children, but but I can imagine this scenario: "So, you're leaving the house now. What book are you bringing?"

[@sylvanwoods5271]

The screen time we expose children to seems to be filled with constant cuts, which then leads to continuous 2 second screen bites. I've often speculated whether this leads to increased adhd or poor attention spans. In addition to the apparent addiction, it seems like it also leads to increased problems in our children's ability to function "normally." People who don't expose their kids to screens seem to have fewer problems with their children suffering from some of the problems that seem prominent in children today. Before screens, I put a book or beloved toy in the child's hands while cooking a meal or cleaning the house. If they couldn't be distracted, it was because they needed my time. We need to be willing to put down what we are doing and spend that time with them. I think screen time will be the ultimate downfall of today's children. Parents need to lock up their devices and engage with their children. It was never boring to watch the light go off in the eyes of a child and see how they'd just discovered something amazing.

[@kimfelopulos8139]

A really great listen! I had to delve into reading a short story I came across today because it was in Italian and I haven’t read or spoken in a while. I took a few notes, words I didn’t understand or quite remember, a child’s verse, I even stopped on a word I felt so proud to know, and it’s a word I love. I even copied the story, so I can go back to read it again. I always look forward to a book, reading, there’s nothing like it.

[@evelynramos445]

Always a ❤ for this reporter!

[@natepfunk]

I appreciate the honesty in this dialog. I especially want this information to help reduce my screen time so i can increase my face time with my little ones. They grow up so fast!

[@auntyjo1792]

Read together, it's the best imo. And don't stop as they get older.

[@pamelaj1226]

Wow. What a gift of a conversation ❤❤

[@donicagiorgio]

Helpfull .thank you very much ..💯👍

[@Diescenesterdie]

Thank you

[@theTIREDman1]

She is just wonderful, what a lovely orator and personality.

[@twhite8308]

❤ This Report ❤

[@Edo9River]

Fundamental to this kind of intellectual superstructure,focused in this episode concerning acquisition of information,, is the acquisition of the universal virtues. The fundamental virtue which all other virtues are built on is “honesty”. ❤❤❤This kind of human development has to do with acquisition of wisdom and not the collection of information. Wisdom is fundamental to the unification of our societies. Reading has no moral values. The establishment of justice within the family, within the community, and finally the. society is not dependent on, but an auxiliary to acquisition of information.. The teaching the acquisition of the virtues😅. is accessible for mentally handicapped, for children and adults, independent of literacy.

[@SW-lw6mt]

I have a very bad case of cognitive impatience, there's just so much I want to read and know that I'll skim everything and at the end of the day I haven't digested anything in a meaningful way.

[@r1ch1e74]

Does anyone have the answer to number 3? Bob’s final for year 2 development is harder than I thought…

[@psikeyhackr6914]

I heard no mention of science fiction in that podcast. I started reading SF in 4th grade while attending a Catholic school where the nitwit nuns never taught science. I decided that I was an agnostic and would go to college for engineering. SF can present ideas in a more condensed manner than scholarly works do. Consider: The Mote in God's Eye by Niven & Pournelle Interestingly that book came out in 1974 the year that the population hit 4 billion. The story involves aliens overpopulating their planet multiple times and having repeated collapses of civilization. 1974: who was talking about global warming then? So what does science fiction do for the brain at what age? Shouldn't we have a K-12 Cultural Unschooling Recommend Reading List? 100 books for kindergarten, 200 for 1st grade, 300 for 2nd grade, etc. That would be just over 9000 for K-12. The Tyranny of Words by Stuart Chase

[@myrnalane7928]

I read Talmud out loud!

[@ianhall7193]

evil book that one is, huh

[@danielpincus221]

I can say with absolute certainty that none of the people who are ripping down hostage posters have read a single book about Israel/Palestine. All they get is from their screens.

[@maryannegrimes6350]

Thought you might find this podcast interesting..not that you have the free time😊

[@HM-mw7cg]

Interesting convo, very annoying woman with a shrill voice though