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Every book Maryanne Wolf recommended on podcasts
Maryanne Wolf appeared on The Ezra Klein Show to discuss the cognitive neuroscience of reading, deep literacy, and the impact of digital media on the brain. When offering reading recommendations, Wolf praised Gish Jen's novel World and Town for helping readers understand human experience in unique ways, and she highlighted Wendell Berry's Standing by Words alongside George Eliot's Middlemarch, which she and Ezra Klein agreed was a quintessential favorite book. Reflecting on her own scholarly contributions, Wolf discussed her foundational work Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, explaining how writing the book helped her realize vital insights about the neuroscience of reading. Additionally, she mentioned Naomi S. Baron's book How We Read Now to explore collaborative research surrounding modern skimming and scrolling habits. Through these selections and discussions, Wolf established herself as an articulate champion of deep reading, literacy preservation, and the cognitive benefits of sustained literary engagement in a rapidly changing technological landscape.
Books recommended by Maryanne Wolf
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World and town
World and Town by Gish Jen is a perceptive novel that explores community, cultural dislocation, and the intricate dynamics of human relationships in a changing American landscape.
Recommended“but I would really actually want to say that my favorite was her book World in town in which like few other people she helps us understand”
Where to get it
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Middlemarch
Middlemarch by George Eliot is widely regarded as a masterwork of Victorian literature, brilliantly capturing the complex social fabric, political undercurrents, and psychological depths of provincial English life.
Recommended“Middlemarch is your favorite book so I have to say that at the end I love it”
Where to get it
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Standing by words
Standing by Words by Wendell Berry is a collection of essays that explores the deep connections between language, morality, agriculture, and the health of human communities and the natural environment.
Recommended“the third will be very difficult for me because it's something between Wendell Barry standing by words and John Dunn the Theologian”
Where to get it
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How We Read Now
Discussed“I have been doing a lot of work with colleagues like Naomi Baron who has an Oxford book called How we read now”
Where to get it
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Proust and the squid : the story and science of the reading brain
Discussed“it was a book called PR and the squid the story and science of the reading brain I realized that there was nothing in the brain”
Where to get it
Books Maryanne Wolf wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Of: This Is Your Brain on Deep Reading. It’s Pretty Magnificent. | The Ezra Klein Show | 2023-11-28 | 6 |