1 . Technology seems to discourage slow, immersive reading. Reading on a screen, particularly a phone screen, tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. So online writing tends to be more skimmable and list-like than print. The cognitive neuroscientist Mary Walt argued recently that this “new norm” of skim reading is producing “an invisible, game-changing transformation” in how readers process words. The neuronal circuit that sustains the brain’s capacity to read now favors the rapid absorption of information, rather than skills developed by deeper reading, like critical analysis.

We shouldn’t overplay this danger. All readers skim. Skimming is the skill we acquire as children as we learn to read more skillfully. From about the age of nine, our eyes start to bounce around the page, reading only about a quarter of the words properly, and filling in the gaps by inference. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans. So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. “Quite a few critics have been worried about attention span lately and see very short stories as signs of cultural decline,” the American author Selvin Brown wrote. “No one ever said that poems were evidence of short attention spans.”

And yet the Internet has certainly changed the way we read. For a start, it means that there is more to read, because more people than ever are writing. If you time travelled just a few decades into the past, you would wonder at how little writing was happening outside a classroom. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. An online article starts forming a comment string underneath as soon as it is published. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people’s words as something to be quickly harvested as fodder to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, desperate to be heard.

Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a social good and source of personal achievement. But this advocacy often emphasizes “enthusiastic”, “passionate” or “eager” reading, none of which adjectives suggest slow, quiet absorption.

To a slow reader, a piece of writing can only be fully understood by immersing oneself in the words and their slow comprehension of a line of thought. The slow reader is like a swimmer who stops counting the number of pool laps he has done and just enjoys how his body feels and moves in water.

The human need for this kind of deep reading is too tenacious for any new technology to destroy. We often assume that technological change can’t be stopped and happens in one direction, so that older media like “dead-tree” books are kicked out by newer, more virtual forms. In practice, older technologies can coexist with new ones. The Kindle has not killed off the printed book any more than the car killed off the bicycle. We still want to enjoy slowly-formed ideas and carefully-chosen words. Even in a fast-moving age, there is time for slow reading.

Reading Interests of Senior Middle School Students

5 . A donation by a famous writer has helped start an effort, called the United States of Readers, to help poor children read more books.

The classroom programme is being launched by Scholastic Book Clubs with a donation of $1.5 million from the writer James Patterson.

Scholastic announced the programme recently, aiming to bring books to 32,000 poor children who are in kindergarten to eighth grade.

Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Book Clubs, said that in many communities people don’t have enough money to buy books. So her company “needed to come up with an alternative to our tried-and-true model, because every child needs to be able to choose and own books, and see themselves as a reader!”

Scholastic is a large publisher of books for children and educational materials. Its goal is to get books into schools to increase literacy. The company has publishing rights in the U.S. for books like the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series.

A gift from Patterson helped start the new programme. He is credited with selling millions of books. He has already donated more than $10 million to teachers and students through Scholastic.

He said that he has supported literacy for many years. He believes reading skills are important for the country.

“In many cases, kids simply need access to books— and especially books they want to read— to fall in love with reading, characters, and stories.”

Patterson added that the programme “will bring books to those schools and communities that need them the most, and ones that we haven’t served before.”

Scholastic describes the programme on its website. It says the United States of Reader programme targets children in schools serving poor communities. The company said it has chosen a limited number of schools to take part this year but hopes to expand the programme in the coming years.

8 . Reading while traveling is more than pleasurable; it’s a necessity. It means resting our heads against the window while traveling on the subway, train, or bus, and immersing ourselves in distant worlds and other people’s lives. These waves of words help us make the journey seem shorter and distance ourselves from the noise. It can make our journey meaningful and help us to start our working days with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Reading while traveling brings a unique context to one’s reading. Many people take specific books with them to tie into the places they’re traveling to. Few things are as enjoyable and satisfying as lifting your eyes to find yourself in the very same country, setting, or context that the book is set in. Of course, it isn’t necessary to visit the exact places in a novel in order to experience the sensations that the author is trying to transmit to you. Just the simple fact of being outside the four walls of your house brings new ingredients to reading: sounds, lights, faces, and sensations, among other things.

Reading while traveling improves your ability to concentrate. The truth is that not all people are able to concentrate on a book while they’re traveling. Our urban world is noisy. However, it’s interesting to note that those who have become used to reading while traveling have developed unique concentration and focusing skills. The ability to read, understand, and visualize other worlds and plots is a skill that can be applied to many other areas in life.

Reading, which is a ticket that transports you to places far beyond your physical destination, is a portable pastime. You don’t have to be in bed or on the couch in order to be able to enjoy a book. Reading while traveling is a great way to make the most of your time, thereby turning those moments of inactivity into very active ones for your brain. The only danger that we could point out is that you may get so immersed in your book that you might miss your stop!

9 . Reading is a passageway to other worlds. It can make you feel less alone and more connected with the world at large. It can open your eyes to issues, triumphs, and challenges that you never dreamed of, and take you to far away places. Here are the top four books all teens should read before they turn 18.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, recently became popular again due to the release of the movie version, although the movie is not a substitute for this beautiful story about a teenage girl Meg Murray, who is on an interplanetary mission to rescue her scientist father from the evil, with the help of her friends.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

In The Four Agreements, bestselling author Don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. The powerful code of conduct offered in this book is perfect for teens going off to college or beginning a new stage of independence. It is a book that can be re-read all throughout life without losing its power.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

In a world where bullying among young people is an epidemic, this is a refreshing story full of heart and hope. Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters the local fifth grade. As his family, his new classmates, and the larger community all struggle to discover their compassion and acceptance, Auggie’s extraordinary journey will unite them all and prove you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

The author shares beautiful poetry that will speak to tweens and teens about her experience of growing up in the South as an African-American in the 1960s and 1970s. The poems are charged with the themes of self-awareness and identity.

10 . I am a boy who likes reading and I read all kinds of books. When I do this, I have ended up with two speeds—fast and slow depending on how worthwhile I find the book. I like to analyze and ponder over the words and contents of the books, which can sharpen my mind.

When I read the book Intrinsic Motivation(《内在动机》), I ask myself, “What kind of book is it?” Well, first of all, I have to say Dan Pink writes well, which is probably not surprising as he is a speechwriter for an American leader. The text is neither academically difficult nor overly casual. It states information clearly without effort. The subject matter of the book is motivation, and it starts with a discussion of how external motivation is less effective for modern knowledge work, where wide intelligent decision-making and innovation are essential.

The book shows that the tricky nature of how we are truly motivated is uncovered with plenty of examples and descriptions of sound research. For example, it is shown how payment can signal that a task is undesirable and so reduce intrinsic motivation. The heart of the book is the analysis of intrinsic motivation, in particular through the three key elements of autonomy, mastery and purpose. The rest of the book then takes an applied position, showing how these principles can be applied in the workplace. The book ends up with a comprehensive summary, covering the contents from several different angles and providing an easy future reference.

This is the sort of book I like most. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I took quite a long time to read and re-read this excellent book. It covers the subject of motivation strongly and well. and is now one of my definitive references in a rather large library.