Review
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"In Language at the Speed of Sight, [Seidenberg]
develops a careful argument, backed by decades of research, to
show that the only responsible way to teach children to read well
is to build up their abilities to connect reading with speech and
then to amplify these connections through practice, developing
skillful behavioral patterns hand in hand with the neurological
networks that undergird them...Every teacher of young children as
well as those who train them should read this book."―Wall Street
Journal
"Seidenberg...unravels the science of reading with great flair.
He is the ideal guide - and it turns out that we need a guide to
reading, even though we've been doing it most of our
lives."―Washington Post
"Seidenberg reviews the latest science on reading and makes an
impassioned plea for putting this knowledge to use."―Scientific
American
"Cognitive neuroscientist Seidenberg digs deep into the science
of reading to reveal the ways human beings learn how to read and
process language.... Seidenberg's analysis is backed up by
numerous studies and table of data. His approach is pragmatic,
myth-destroying and rooted in science--and his writing makes for
powerful reading."―Publishers Weekly
"The neuroscience underlying [Seidenberg's] findings is complex,
of course, but [he] does not often fall into thickets of
technicality...his discussions are clear and accessible.... A
worthy primer on the science of comprehending language."―Kirkus
"No technologically advanced society exists without reading. This
is the remarkable story of why and how it all works. From David
Letterman's irony to posited Sumerian patent trolls, the writing
is lively, informative, and supremely entertaining."―Daniel J.
Levitin, best-selling author of This Is Your Brain on Music and
The Organized Mind
"Have you picked up the idea that reading is something that kids
'just pick up' and shouldn't be rushed into it, or that learning
to read is something different from mastering something separate
called 'comprehension,' or that a whole book about reading would
be dull? Language at the Speed of Sight will disabuse you of all
three notions and more-pick it up and marvel at how hard it will
be to put it down."―John McWhorter, author of Word on the Move
and Talking Back, Talking Black
"Few works of science ever achieve Italo Calvino's six qualities
of our best writing: Lightness, exactitude, visibility,
quickness, multiplicity, and consistency. Mark Seidenberg's new
book achieves just that. If every educator, parent, and policy
maker would read and heed the content of this book, the rates of
functional illiteracy, with all their destructive sequelae, would
be significantly reduced."―Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and
the Squid
"A world-renowned expert explains the science of reading with
clarity and wit--anyone who loves to read will be fascinated, and
teachers will absolutely devour this book."―Daniel Willingham,
author of Why Don't Students Like School?
"Language at the Speed of Sight is an incisive tour through the
fascinating science of reading. From cuneiform to dyslexia to the
future of literacy, Seidenberg is a master guide who--lucky for
us--is as gifted a writer as he is a scientist."―Benjamin Bergen,
author of What the F
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About the Author
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Mark Seidenberg is the Vilas Research Professor and
Donald O. Hebb Professor in the department of psychology at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and a cognitive neuroscientist
who has studied language, reading, and dyslexia for over three
decades. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
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