Do you ever find yourself skimming novels looking for exciting words and hyperlinks? You aren’t the only one mixing up the digital and print reading worlds. Neuroscientists believe we are developing new brain circuits for skimming online information that are rewiring how we’ve approached reading for centuries. Pair with: Our essay on how writing is also changing to fit our fragmented attention span.
Short Circuit Reading
Dubus on Love and Class
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Green Whisky
9,000 homes in Scotland are going to be powered by whisky. Could Maker’s Mark be bringing a similar idea to our side of the pond?
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Branching Out
I’ve written before about Wolf in White Van, the new novel by Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle. But there’s another book out by a prominent artist in a field other than writing: Consumed by David Cronenberg, the director of A History of Violence. Sam Costello reviews the new book over at Full-Stop.
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Previewing Batuman
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, the forthcoming debut effort by sometime Millions contributor Elif Batuman, gets an intriguing write-up in Publishers Weekly.
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Sloane Crosley’s Travel Advice
Sloane Crosley, this year's editor of The Best American Travel Writing, out today, wrote some key travel tips for those who are vain, budget-conscious, and notoriously lazy.
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Do You Even Want to Know How?
Did the phrase “screw the pooch” originate in 1950 in a Yale dormitory?
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After years of suspecting this to be true, I realized that I was neglecting my own anecdotal evidence. I’m online as much, if not more, than anyone else I know – tons of skimming, etc. Yet, when I sit down to read a book or article, nope, I’m all focus and probably couldn’t skim even if I tried. I think they’re different skills entirely.
I had trouble reading some of those classics before I spent a lot of time on the internet for my job, but I have no problem switching my brain to print reading at home. The brain is adaptable enough to do both, it just needs practice.