Just Finished Reading: Proust and The Squid – The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf (FP: 2007) [229pp]

I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t read. It seems that I have always been reading signs, papers and books. Reading, to me, is as automatic as breathing. But weirdly there was a time when no one could read across the entire globe because reading, as a process, did not exist. Why? Because, not that long ago – in the grand scheme of things – there was nothing written that could be read. There was language but nothing written down – that had to be invented and then taught to others. It was a long and hard process and even had some early opponents who thought, rightly as it turned out, that the process of writing and reading would change things forever and would even change those exposed to it. Writing and reading would, hard as it is to believe at first glance, not only change the way people thought and remembered but literally change the structure of the human brain.

This fascinating book essentially had three streams starting with the various origins of writing in the ancient world and how some prospered while others fell into disuse and how writing (and reading) spread across the ancient world to aid commerce and record keeping. I did actually find it interesting that, like the invention of e-mail and Instant Messaging much later this official communication very quickly became much more personal with commentaries, love notes and graffiti quickly becoming as pervasive as book keeping and legal codes.

Teaching people to read turned out to be really hard and required intense effort both to teach and to learn that skill. This is one reason why early readers were so rare and so prized. It turns out that while we are ‘designed’ from birth to be talkers we are not ‘designed’ to be readers. That skill needs to be bolted on very much as an afterthought as it was not something that evolution made us ready for. In order for the brain to be able to read quickly enough for it to be of any use it needs to rewire itself in multiple ways. As in other realms one of the best ways to figure out who something works is to study when it doesn’t. Hence the in-depth investigation into reading ‘disorders’ gives a great deal of insight into how normally functioning brains learn to read text quickly and accurately to fully process the information it contains. As many people have discovered, both teachers and pupils, this is not always an easy path to follow and is one that takes years of concerted effort before it becomes, or at least seems, to be completely effortless.

Being a lifelong reader (or almost at any rate) I found this book to be completely captivating. Not only is the origin of writing fascinating in its own case I found myself most drawn in by the process of how brains teach themselves to read and I couldn’t help but relate it to my own childhood as well as watching other people struggle with the process. I remember my ‘a-ha’ moments when things suddenly made sense and that almost physical feeling of things falling into place and, of course, the joy of countless reading moments over the years that non-readers never experience. If you are a reader anything like me you will get a great deal from this book. Imagining how your own brain was re-wired from the inside by your own actions with the aid of parents and teachers who taught you to read is both weird and strangely satisfying. Definitely recommended. I shall be looking for her follow up book in 2021.