“Twilight of the Books” by Caleb Crain

This excellent article on the decline of literacy appeared in the December 24, 2007 issue of The New Yorker. There is an interesting look at the neurological differences between decoding words and reading fluently; I’m sure that similar mechanisms apply to music. (This is, alas, not explored in Oliver Sacks’ recent Musicophilia, though it may be taken up in one of the growing number of books about music written by neurologists.) Crain also cites a studies whose results may be interesting for those of you who use Powerpoint presentations:

In a study published this year, experimenters varied the way that people took in a PowerPoint presentation about the country of Mali. Those who were allowed to read silently were more likely to agree with the statement “The presentation was interesting,” and those who read along with an audiovisual commentary were more likely to agree with the statement “I did not learn anything from this presentation.” The silent readers remembered more, too, a finding in line with a series of British studies in which people who read transcripts of television newscasts, political programs, advertisements, and science shows recalled more information than those who had watched the shows themselves.

You’ll find the complete text here.