Understand Folgen

Reading seems an unremarkable skill. When we say something is as “easy as ABC”, we mean it is very easy indeed. In fact, learning to read has dramatic and irreversible consequences for people and for societies. Learning to read permanently alters your brain. It changes the emotions you experience and the way you relate to others. When a society learns to read the consequences are dramatic: wars break out, revolutions erupt and new political systems spring into being. Reading made us who we are. With time spent reading - and even reading ability - starting to nosedive, Times writer James Marriott explores how reading changed humanity, and what might happen if we stop.In this programme, James asks whether the spread of novel reading in the 18th century caused a moral revolution, whether a book played a role in the abolition of slavery, and whether the rise of reading, a solitary and slightly lonely activity, was one of the factors setting us on the path to our atomized and isolated modern society. Contributions from:- Jung Chang, author - Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard University - Sarah Maxwell, founder of Saucy Books - Robert Darnton, historian - Naomi Alderman, writer and presenter - Joseph Henrich, professor of anthropology at Harvard University - Maryanne Wolf, professor and Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLAProducer - Beth Sagar-Fenton Editor - Chris Ledgard

Reading seems an unremarkable skill. After all, everyone can read. Even small children. When we say something is as “easy as ABC”, we mean it is very easy indeed. In fact, learning to read has dramatic and irreversible consequences for people and for societies. Learning to read permanently alters your brain. It changes the emotions you experience and the way you relate to others. When a society learns to read the consequences are dramatic: wars break out, revolutions erupt and new political systems spring into being. Reading made us who we are. For centuries people have been reading more and more. Recently the trend has gone into reverse. The number of people who pick up a book has been falling steadily for twenty years. Now half of adults no longer read regularly. How will this change us? Over three episodes, Times writer James Marriott explores how reading made us, and what might happen if we stop.In this first programme, James finds out how unnatural the process of reading is, and the complex alchemy our brains create to make words on the page make sense to us, and asks what we gain - and lose - when we learn to read.Guests include:- Professor Maryanne Wolf, Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA - John Burn-Murdoch, chief data reporter for the Financial Times - Naomi Alderman, writer and presenter - Dr Joseph Henrich, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard UniversityProducer - Beth Sagar-Fenton Editor - Chris Ledgard

The story of how reading made us and what might happen if we stop - with James Marriott.