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From the Notebooks

From 2004

I suspect the act of reading may have become more difficult than the act of writing. Five (even two) years ago, I would've scoffed at the notion that reading is harder than writing. Now I'm not so sure.

Why could that be? Couple of possibilities: With reading, there is no output from the reader. There is nothing to nothing to do but read. The writer has output; he is engaged in putting out a product. There is more to do: develop content, watch grammar and punctuation, polish style, look up facts. When you read, there's nothing but the naked reading. I guess reading bring almost exclusive concentration on one function, whereas writing engages many.

Maybe reading is easier due to the hands. When writing, the hands are active. Almost as though I need some sort of external distraction in order to be active. I suspect this is related to the fact that I get more from a text if I'm underlining it or taking notes. I seem to comprehend it better. I wonder how this phenomenon–active hands leads to better concentration–ties into studies about saying the Rosary. How does it tie into the cigarette smoker who needs something to do with his hands?

Perhaps it's my age. I'm nearing 40. I have found 40-somethings to be quite enamored with their opinions and ideas, like they're dogmas. Perhaps ages 35-55 are the productive years, years in which we're supposed to supply output. Writing is output; reading is input.

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