I thoroughly enjoyed the first chapter in Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher. I did not find a singular topic
that stood out to me; however the metaphor with baseball really caught my
attention. As a baseball fan, Gallagher presented stereotypically dry writing
found in most textbooks in a way that engaged my mind, and in turn, allowed me
to remember the material easier. This caused me to reflect on this particular
device and how I could implement it in my future career.
In order to present material in a
way that will actually be retained, we must capture the reader’s attention and
hold on to it for as long as possible. Gallagher succeeded in this with me. He
took his personal experiences with his grandfather and his daughters and
illustrated the importance of reading critically. More and more students are
not using this device, which in turn, hinders the student’s ability to progress
through the course at a steady pace. This chapter allowed me to see a link
between reading and baseball: most people I know despise watching baseball. At
the same time, those same people do not enjoy reading. I find that both of
these pastimes require a level of patience that is decreasing each day. If
people are bored, they will not hold their attention to that subject.
I also found that reading relates to movies like baseball relates to
other sports: reading and baseball, as mentioned previously, require patience
and scrutiny in order to be fully appreciated. On the other hand, movies are in
your face, and pack in a lot more action into the two hours of viewing than the
multiple hours required to finish a novel. Hockey and football have this same
effect on most people; the action is non-stop. This leads me to believe that
most people require more mental stimulation than they used to. Things have to
keep going at a quickened pace in order to hold attention.
There is one part that I do not agree with 100%. Gallagher stated that
students must re-read literature in order to view it critically. I rarely
“re-read” an article or chapter. However, I read much slower than most people.
This is not due to a lack of ability, but I make sure that I understand the topic
and meaning behind the words before I move on. I do understand his argument –
students must ensure they understand what they are reading and critically view
the implications and history of the literature. I do not think that there is a
single recipe that will ensure this will happen. Each person must be able to
find a way to do this themselves. Re-reading is a good starting point, though.
