Alan JacobsThe Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distractionby Alan Jacobs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 162 pp., hard $19.95.The Pleasures of Reading, in short, is a pleasure – if you love to read. Alan Jacobs is a professor of English at Wheaton College, and this book obviously flows out of his passion for literature, but he takes a different approach to reading from that of many others. Where Mortimer Adler, in his classic How to Read a Book, offers a methodical method of reading and provides a list of “must read” books, and Nicholas Carr’s more recent The Shallows laments that few are reading books and even he is losing his ability to do so (p. 104), Jacobs breaks stride and suggests reading at “whim.” Rather than agonizing over reading the classics or reading quickly, or reading for information and out of necessity, he suggests we read what we want to read—that which gives us pleasure and joy (pp. 13-25). The overarching principle for reading is “Whim”— read for delight (p. 23). But the author goes further and distinguishes whim from Whim. He defines whim as “thoughtless, directionless preference that almost invariably leads to boredom or frustration or both. But Whim is something very different: it can guide us because it is based in self-knowledge” (p. 41). With Whim the books that delight others need not delight us, nor should we feel obligated to be delighted. Instead, based on our own interest, we are free to enjoy the literature that we appreciate.Jacobs acknowledges that not everyone has the ability for deep attention reading, which has always been a minority pursuit (p. 106). The extreme reader, he writes, is a rare bird—born, not made (p. 107). He is uncertain that an adult who has never practiced deep attention can learn how. But he is confident that anyone who once had this faculty can recover it (p. 116). It is for such people that he writes this The Pleasures of Reading (p. 108).Along the way, Jacobs offers excellent advice for reading at Whim. While reading, as such, does not make anyone a better person (pp. 52-53), it provides many benefits when done according to Whim. Start by reading slowly and disregard speed reading (pp. 67-78). Mark most books (not novels) to foster retention and for reference (pp. 57-61). Since people have always struggled with distractions and the ability to concentrate (p. 90) he recommends seeking out solitude and developing a cone of silence (p. 117). Using other devices such as a Kindle (pp. 61-67, 81-82) might also reduce distractions. Since leisure activity is largely a retreat to the imagination, reading becomes the perfect leisure activity (p. 122), partly because “the point of books is to combat loneliness” (p. 135). Also, the act of read to others is associated with being loved, especially by children (p. 146).The Pleasures of Reading is creatively structured. There are no table of contents, no chapters (just highlighted subpoints), no normal footnotes (but references in “An Essay on Sources” that concludes the book), and no indexes of any kind. And while this is creative, it is frustrating if the reader is trying to return to a particular subject. I found this design more distracting than helpful.On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, probably because I resonate with these words, “…when the reason for our raptness is sheer and unmotivated delight. This is what makes ‘readers’ as opposed to ‘people who read.’ To be lost in a book is genuinely addictive: someone who has had it a few times wants it again.”Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Pastor-teacher at Southern View Chapel

I serendipitously stumbled across this book as I was shopping on Amazon's Kindle Store. I thought to myself, "A book about why reading is awesome? Sounds like fun!" So I fell prey to that diabolical temptation, the "Buy with One Click" button. That was yesterday. Despite the fact that I have three books open right now, I thought, "I'll read the first couple of pages." And here I am today, and the book is done. It's short and exceedingly readable, but so wonderful in a lot of ways. As a 40-something person, I'm at that place in life where I think about all the books I've yet to read, and that if I'm lucky I'm halfway through my lifespan. Still, it has occurred to me that I'd best get a whole lot more serious about reading books that are important for me to read! So I've been planning out which books I need to tackle.In waltzes Prof. Jacobs and urgently begs me to forget about any such madness.It's a rare and amazing thing that a Professor of English Literature would give me this crucial advice: Read at Whim! Read at Whim! He argues that if reading becomes a duty or a thing to get over with, it becomes soul-killing and empty. I keep unconsciously relating "important books" with my educational career: Hurry up! Get these things read now, before someone finds out what a hack you are! You need to be able to tell people you've read these books, or you'll be an intellectual laughingstock!Jacobs' playful (and I think more than half-serious) suggestion: LIE! Find enough information on these "important" books from the internet that you can evince some basic level of familiarity with them, throw in a couple of knowing comments to your friends....and get back to spending the bulk of your leisure time reading books in which you can truly delight. Get lost in them, experiencing the matchless pleasure that comes with it! This is because in order to truly benefit from any book, you have to take it on its own terms and truly love it for its own sake.By no means should this be taken to construe that Prof. Jacobs advocates reading nothing but brain-candy novels (though he staunchly defends the worth of such reading!). Remember: he's a literature professor, after all. He is driving at the point that you can get the full benefit of a book only when you are ready to receive what it has for you. If you're not ready to receive Tolstoy right now, revel in J.K. Rowling! (though Rowling isn't my cup of tea, personally). As you learn to delight in reading, you will find yourself ready to receive more of the "important" books, and in not in the manner of flogging yourself until you march through a torturous tome. Instead, you will increasingly be able to identify the truly delightful elements of a book that you have never seen before.What seems to lie at the heart of all this is to develop one's capacity for "deep attention." This is a way of reading that is rare indeed...all the more endangered by a world driven to insane levels of A.D.D. by digital, social media, and musical distractions. Deep reading is the sort practiced by medieval monks: reading slowly, deliberately...meditating and ruminating on the wise counsel brought to you by excellent books. It takes discipline over time to develop the silence and focused attention that such excellent works require. Obviously, it doesn't take great mental discipline to read a Tom Clancy novel (now THERE'S an author who is right up my alley)...but the good news is that any form of enjoyable long-form reading can help you develop the focused attention over time that will make bring you to the place where you ARE ready to receive the riches in a truly "great" piece of literature.Jacobs discusses so many intriguing topics in this little book, including the radical idea that our current educational system does NOT provide fertile opportunities to develop this essential "deep attention." Instead it is structured to foster "hyper attention," which is quick scanning to gather information. Ironically, even literature classes do little to develop a deep love of books, because they are time-limited and require exams, essays and papers. In other words, they cannot help but to turn reading into an information-compiling exercise. Now, Jacobs acknowledges the validity of "hyper attention" (quick reading for information-- and indeed many pursuits require just that skill. However, it is impossible to experience the true joys of reading until we discipline our minds to be silent, block out interruptions, slow down, and soak in excellent books. The good news is, those different modes of thinking need not be mutually exclusive!I got a great deal out of this little book. I cannot help but believe that we would benefit as a society I rich ways by Jacobs' exhortations to silence, solitude, meditation, focus. We needn't become Luddites, throwing way our iPads and smart phones. However, truly great ideas come out of minds that can focus attention and think deeply!

He deserves five stars for the passionate and lucid defence of the *pleasure* of reading in the opening pages. But there are several arguments that don't hold water for me, some so bad they barely deserve a star. So my three stars reflect a text that goes up and down the star rating like a roller coaster,. And, like a roller coaster, the book is an enjoyable ride and a pleasure to read..He has some scathing things to say about Bloom, Van Doren, Fadiman, et. al. for turning the pleasure of reading into a dour muscle building programme. This really hits the mark, as does his defence of J.K. Rowling against the attacks of Bloom. (Personally I quickly gave up on Harry Potter, but I see no reason to dismiss her when she is loved by so many children. And, as Jacobs points out, even his fellow "literature is hard graft" expert Van Doren includes her on his (mostly) weighty list of 200 books you must read, so Bloom is out on a limb here and reveals himself as another flawed critic. Aren't they all!)Jacobs (rightly) recommends pleasure as the touchstone for reading, but is on dodgy ground when he suggests that the choice of what to read should be made by Whim. He capitalises whim to indicate that this should not truly be by whim... otherwise people might see "Jane Austen with Vampires" in a book shop and buy it for no other reason than liking vampires, Jane Austen. and pop art covers. He suggests there should be some considered appraisal to moderate whim - having run out of Jane Austen novels one might go upstream and read what she read, and therefore, for example, read David Hume... I've tried reading David Hume, and gave up very quickly. Having a penchant for popular philosophy, I've encountered David Hume's ideas and enjoyed them greatly, but the original is far too dry and difficult to generate any pleasure for me.Even Bloom doesn't have Hume on his list of weighty books to read, indeed includes hardly any philosophers because (rightly, I think) they don't provide enough aesthetic delight (i.e., are not just hard but are no pleasure to read...) I think the reader would be much better consulting Bloom's list of novels from the same era, that certainly worked for me (Walter Scott! Thanks Harold...)Jacobs also suggests going downstream is a mistake because the works are not going to be challenging enough. But downstream from Austen is Dickens, and Jacobs (rightly) earlier praises Dickens to the heights. So he is contradicting himself.The main problem with this book might be that Jacobs is a professor. He has to find some reason for his students to read Hume,and other set texts. Hume's Treatise, Machiavelli's Prince, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight might yield some pleasures, alongside a lot of hard, very non-pleasurable graft, but why should the general reader seek them out? They would be better going downstream to Dickens and P.G. Wodehouse to find pleasure in reading.

I am someone who has recently rediscovered the joys of reading so was fascinated by this well-written little book. At times I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with the author but the one thing that I would disagree with him about is the use of lists or books such as 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. When I started reading a lot I found a lot of books that I had never heard of by using these sources & have now built up a very small library so that I can 'read at whim' as Alan Jacobs so wisely suggests. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading but who sometimes doubts their method or motives - they will certainly find answers & food for thought here.

An excellent introduction to learning the best ways to enjoy and get the most out of reading literature. Alan is an honest and entertaining author who doesn’t minimise the potential difficulties involved in establishing, or re-establishing a regular reading habit. Thankfully, Jacobs gives the reader plenty of strategies and approaches to experiment with.

Der US-amerikanische Professor für englische Literatur, Alan Jacobs hat dieses Buch im Stile von „Plaudereien in meinem Studierzimmer“ (oder sage ich besser „auf meinem Blog“) gehalten. Er spaziert mit Freude und Humor durch seine eigene Biografie als Leser. Nicht dass er eine chronologische Analyse vornimmt, bewahre. Gerade diese analytische Art ist ihm sehr zuwider. Er will den Anspruch an das Lesen entkrampfen. Nichts ist ihm ein grösserer Greuel (so scheint es zumindest), als ein verbissenes Sich-durch-eine-Leseliste-der-100-wichtigsten-Bücher-Kämpfen. Man tritt dann nämlich mit dem Anspruch an, durch das Lesen gebildet, also im Effekt ein besserer Mensch zu werden. Dieser Anspruch ist utopisch und verkehrt.Jacobs Hauptthese lautet: Lese als oder mit WHIM. Damit ist eine freudiger, in die Welt eines Buches eintauchender, reflektierend antwortender Zugang zum Lesen gemeint. Ironischerweise gewann der Autor diesen Zugang durch sein elektronisches Lesegerät zurück. Er liess sich nicht mehr durch ständig eingehende Nachrichten (200 RSS-Feeds!) stören, sondern widmete sich wieder ungestört dem Genuss des sich-ungestört-durch-einen-Text-pflügen. Tatsächlich wird Jacobs etwas kulturkritisch – trotz allem Dagegenstemmen. Er bemängelt die verlorene gegangene Fähigkeit des anhaltenden, vertieften Langzeit-Lesens. Er propagiert Lesen für jedermann, gibt jedoch im Verlauf seiner Betrachtung unumwunden zu, dass es höchstens einige Prozent der Bevölkerung betreffen würde.Wir sollten also aufhören, uns von Experten vorschreiben zu lassen, was wir in welcher Geschwindigkeit mit welchem Ertrag lesen sollten. Das Lesen sollte von der akademischen Welt abgekoppelt und in die Welt des Alltags zurück verpflanzt werden. Lies, was dir gefällt, und das überwiegend und ohne Scham (15+23). Lies, was das Zeug hält. Lies fürs Leben. Lies, was du lessen willst, in deiner eigenen Geschwindigkeit. Daneben flechtet Jacobs ein, welch erstaunliche Hirnleistung das Lesen darstellt.Ich nehme drei Hinweise aus dem Buch mit: Lesen heisst antworten. Das bedeutet nicht in jedem Fall mit Stift und Tagebuch zu lesen, sondern auch mal ohne Werkzeug, den Text auf sich wirkend und sich hinterfragen lassend. Zweitens komme ich mehr auf den Geschmack, Bücher zum wiederholten Male zur Hand zu nehmen, für einzelne Passagen und insgesamt. Erst so, meint Jacobs, entsteht erst eine „richtige“ Lesegewohnheit. Auch der Rückblick tut gut. Man wächst über die Jahre: Im Rückblick wird man feststellen, dass das, was damals so aufregend neu, über die Jahre integriert worden ist. Die wichtigste Mahnung bleibt jedoch, Bücher nicht um der Seitenzahlen, dem guten Ruf oder der eigenen Bildung willen zu lesen – sondern zur Stärkung der eigenen inneren Landschaft.Fazit: Das waren vergnügliche fünf, sechs Stunden mit dem Lesegerät.

Alan Jacobs exudes an irritating self confidence and an almost evangelical wish to liberate readers from negative thoughts about their own constipated approach to reading. There are some intended amusing moments and some possibly less intended irritating ones - though I suspect that the rather self conscious professor knows jolly well what he is doing. I enjoy reading and had hoped that this book might improve the quantum of pleasure that it brings and was regrettably disappointed.