1. "8 Science-backed reasons to read a (real) book" (979 w.)
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go" - Dr Seuss | I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!
It often seems that because of new technologies and media formats, people must be reading less. This isn't necessarily true. People are very attached to books and reading as a hobby and source of information. This article proposes 8 different reasons that reading is good for us from a scientific perspective. While some of the reasons might seem obvious, for example, "Reading increases your intelligence", there are other, less obvious, advantages of why you should read a good book.
Have a look at the 8 reasons in this article before moving on to the other article below to discover more reasons why reading is such a positive activity.
STRATEGY:
Skimming - When you read a text, an important strategy is to try and take the main information without reading every detail.
Skimming means that you would first read a text quickly by only looking for the principal or main ideas. This type of reading is very common with academic and non-fiction texts such as the one above. It is also helped by titles and subtitles. Try "reading" the article above first by "skimming" it. Can you get a general sense of the content of the whole article by doing this?
2. "For prisoners like me, books are a lifeline" (966 w.)
“Our families should be allowed to order us books – old ones, new ones, hardcovers, softcovers” - John J Lennon | prisoner and writer
This short article from the Guardian Opinion section was written by John Lennon (not that one!) who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for murder. He describes how fundamental books and reading can be for prisoners. In this article he criticises American prison policies which want to restrict the access of prisoners to books. He describes ways in which prisoners get books despite restrictions and how reading can inspire prisoners to reflect on both their past and their (potential) future.
STRATEGY:
1) Previewing
Previewing is the first step to begin to understand what the text is about. This includes a rapid assessment of the main elements of the text, for example the title, subtitle and photos. In the case of this article, the title phrase “For prisoners like me...” and the photo of the famous Sing Sing prison give us some idea.
2) Contextualizing
This means creating a context for the story/situation. Ask yourself things about the location, the main character and the tone of the text. Maybe the text asks questions in its introduction or uses imperatives. For example, here, in the title, Lennon says “Don’t cut it” (referring to the availability of books for prisoners).
3) Visualizing
This involves some imagination to actually “see” the character and the places involved in your mind. We all have ideas about what prisons are like. Maybe we start to imagine the main character, in his cell, in prison costume, reading books or with a small collection of books.
Refer to our Language in Context section for a useful list of topic-related phrases from this article.
