Prompt #1

Manguel

From the article The Last Page by Manguel the quote "We read to understand, or begin to understand. We cannot do but read. Reading, almost as much as breathing, is our essential function"(Manguel,7) This quote is essential as there are words everywhere and it is incredibly difficult to avoid them. Reading is an essential function in understanding.

The other significant quote from The Last Page article is "I don't think I could live without reading. Reading- I discovered- comes before writing. A society can exist- many do exist- without writing but no society can exist without reading"(Manguel, 7). Many people learn to read before they can write. It is hard to escape reading but it can be easy to escape writing as it is not a function that is used as frequently.

For Manguel reading is a personal connection to the author and a place to escape from the real world. Reading is a place of learning and adventure. It is also constantly evolving through the texts that are being written and from what is being read.

Birkerts

In The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, Birkerts describes the difference between print order and electronic order. "Print communication requires the active engagement of the reader's attention, for reading is fundamentally an act of translation" (Birkerts, 122). Whereas, "electronic communication can be passive as with television watching or interactive as with computers"(Birkerts, 122).

The transition from print to electronic order will drastically change how we view media and how people speak, read and communicate. Also, electronic order allows for more access into the private self as anyone can post anything about themselves and we can be online almost all the time whether we are present or not.

Connection to Digital Readers


Both of these articles discuss the experience readers have with text and how it constantly changes regardless of whether it is electronic or not. However, the rising trend is towards reading digitally. It is possible to read extensively without picking up a book whether online or through audio books. The experience of reading is different through each format but in the end the reader can still say that they have read something. The written word is everywhere it is impossible to avoid.

Myself As A Reader


For me reading books is an escape where I can imagine different worlds and learn about different things that I wouldn't ordinarily experience. As a child I was an obsessive compulsive reader. Reading was essentially all I did besides go outside. I wouldn't pay attention in school because I was reading books that I wanted to read rather than learning math or science. I read a lot of history books as well as stories. However, the majority of my reading came in some form of historical books. I also read books such as The Hobbit, Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Number The Stars among many others. To this day still I highly enjoy young adult fiction for the sheer imagination and escapism of it.