Reading in the age of constant distraction

Mairead Small Staid shares a brilliant piece of writing all about reading and its apparent demise. She frames the problem well: > The diminishment of literature—of sustained reading, of writing as the product of a single focused mind—would diminish the self in turn, rendering us less and less able to grasp both the breadth of our world and the depth of our own consciousness. So, what we write and what we read helps shape our thinking and our very being? I like that. But Staid goes further — a l…

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How to create idea babies: a knowledge processing system for marketers, creators, and knowledge workers

I can’t recall how I came across this article. But it sure got me thinking long and hard about my set up for storing notes and information related to all the things I do. Andre Chaperon absolutely nailed the description of a problem I still experience from time to time: > The inefficiencies of a system (or lack of a system) don’t become apparent until we need to retrieve the information we’ve previously been exposed to; information we’ve already deemed important. … and then can’t find the info…

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Oh God, it's raining newsletters

My favourite writer writing about email newsletters. This is the epitome of my reading experience. About the burgeoning popularity of the age old technology, Craig Mod has this to say: > Newsletters and newsletter startups these days are like mushrooms in an open field after a good spring rain. I don’t know a single writer who isn’t newslettering or newsletter-curious, and for many, the newsletter is where they’re doing their finest public work. And while we often discuss this topic in terms of…

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Am I doing enough?

Being a Christian isn’t about “doing”, but you don’t have to attend church for long to know we’re all supposed to read our Bible, pray, and spend time in worship together. How do we go beyond the basics? I often find myself asking the question: am I doing enough?

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You’re probably using the wrong dictionary

Another excellent read I came across in a newsletter (Sarah Bray [https://www.sarahjbray.com] this time), James Somers talks about dictionaries. That may not sound enticing, but he does it really well! He first describes the problem: > The way I thought you used a dictionary was that you looked up words you’ve never heard of, or whose sense you’re unsure of. You would never look up an ordinary word — like example, or sport, or magic — because all you’ll learn is what it means, and that you alr…

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Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound

It’s one thing to write about how the internet has changed the way we read. It’s another thing to claim how that change in reading as affected us overall. This article from Maryanne Wolf opens with just that: > When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age. What are the problems? Well, the author states there are several: > Multiple studies show that digital screen u…

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