- Site: Raptitude.com - By: David Cain - Date published: 2024-09-11 - Date read: [[2024-09-16]] - [Read Original](https://www.raptitude.com/2024/09/in-favor-of-reading-aloud/) - [Read on Omnivore](https://omnivore.app/me/https-www-raptitude-com-2024-09-in-favor-of-reading-aloud-191f19758be) - Tags: #Books #Reading - Notes: **Note:** Below is the text from the article, with any ==highlights== done by me. None of the writing below is by me. # Article text <DIV id="readability-content"><DIV data-omnivore-anchor-idx="1" class="page" id="readability-page-1"><div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="2" id="content"> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="3" id="post-13233"> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="4"><img data-omnivore-anchor-idx="5" data-omnivore-original-src="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Muse_reading_Louvre_CA2220_cropped-600.jpg" src="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/600x600,svtdIeGxImERjngCwEHw7-3atPRJ4fRlklXnEbDulXHU/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Muse_reading_Louvre_CA2220_cropped-600.jpg" width="600" height="600" alt="Post image for In Favor of Reading Aloud"></p><p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="6">When I read <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="7">Jane Eyre</em>, I stalled for a full year between the opening part at the boarding school and the rest of the book.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="8">I tend to dislike boarding-school openings in books, but the real problem was I found myself having to reread too many of Charlotte Brontë’s winding, multi-clausal, colon-encrusted sentences. Her writing is beautiful, but some sentences contained so many twists and detours that I would often lose the flow of them and have to take a second go. The book was clearly a special one, but whenever I looked at it I got tired at the thought of diving back in.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="9">I finally regained traction by reading it aloud. I finished the whole book this way, which made it an unfettered joy. Because each of its complex Victorian sentences had to pass through my mouth, I found it easy to stay with their meaning and structure. The reading was slower, but much smoother, with very little doubling back. It felt like I was finally driving in the appropriate gear for the terrain.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="10">The second time I read a whole novel aloud was <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="11">Trainspotting</em> by Irvine Welsh, and it was for a different reason. All of Welsh’s books are written in heavy Scottish dialect — 350 pages of this:</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="12">“Ah found masel lyin tae her, tae justify Begbie’s behaviour. Fuckin horrible. Ah jist couldnae handle her outrage, n the hassle thit went wi it. It wis easy tae lie, as we all did wi Begbie in our circle.”</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="13">There was no way I’d get through this without reading it aloud, and of course it would be absurd to do it in my normal accent, so I read the whole thing in my best Scottish lilt, keeping my voice down so my downstairs neighbor wouldn’t think I’ve lost my mind.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="14">As with <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="15">Jane Eyre,</em> reading this book aloud made it a delight and I finished it quickly. Once again, it felt like I’d found the right gear for traveling efficiently through the text.</p> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="16"> <figure data-omnivore-anchor-idx="17"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="18" href="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/muddyrrail.jpg"><img data-omnivore-anchor-idx="19" data-omnivore-original-src="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/muddyrrail-300x201.jpg" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="300" height="201" src="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/300x201,sb9ew9O0uioYW8k38NlRk9hFjsV9CN4UntTwJHIStaks/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/muddyrrail-300x201.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/300x0,sFHN0VpxTz0UlgY4y7Wa5-gLonxKcKc2P-BXNkgaXNXU/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/muddyrrail-300x201.jpg 300w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/287x0,sBkLopJIsLczWWfY9MEn9jZgsyVpaDHZ2gHBy-g4VNZw/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/muddyrrail-287x192.jpg 287w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/640x0,sSAGC3QR9gAY2XLh_xCMTAIEfmWH0qPczHEyHbXLQaLE/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/muddyrrail.jpg 640w," sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a><figcaption data-omnivore-anchor-idx="20">Reading <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="21">Trainspotting</em> silently</figcaption></figure></div> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="22">It occurred to me only recently that I should use this gear more often. In fact, it might be the superior way to read most of the time, at least when there’s no need be silent or maximize speed. Reading aloud, I feel more immersed in the text, and rarely get distracted. Having to pass every word through your own voice imparts, or reveals, a new dimension to the book. It makes you give physical form, and a definite timing, to the contours of the words within their sentences, and sentences within their paragraphs. You’re no longer just decoding and absorbing the story, you’re now <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="23">expressing</em> it. You feel closer to what the author is saying, because now you’re saying it for them.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="24">I love reading, but I am immensely distractible while I read. Soon after starting, something disconnects in my attention. One part of my mind continues following and subvocalizing the words, while another part has gone off to reconsider something I read earlier. Before I notice, I’m lost, and I have to backtrack a paragraph or two.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="25">Unless the book is utterly gripping, my attention keeps sliding off the meaning of the words like this. If you can imagine riding a bicycle whose main gear has no proper teeth to grip the chain, just half-formed bumps, riding that bike is how it feels to read most of the time. Sometimes it catches and pulls me along for a good bit, but sometimes I can stay stuck on the same page for ten or fifteen minutes.</p> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="26"> <figure data-omnivore-anchor-idx="27"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="28" href="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/streetsh-SaDYgcd8Wws-unsplash.jpg"><img data-omnivore-anchor-idx="29" data-omnivore-original-src="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/streetsh-SaDYgcd8Wws-unsplash-216x300.jpg" decoding="async" width="216" height="300" src="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/216x300,sAA3aK5N0onwul1geVDdGmgsC9s_RK9SNUy2ZfpMl7gw/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/streetsh-SaDYgcd8Wws-unsplash-216x300.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/216x0,sJMrHkWACU-QiBXIJbSeSjMk9iKiiWvxuHS8zAkacF6E/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/streetsh-SaDYgcd8Wws-unsplash-216x300.jpg 216w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/138x0,swhWzBOIRc_iQyTNcLdyNmFiiYl8eQdDhtgeBvsToMTU/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/streetsh-SaDYgcd8Wws-unsplash-138x192.jpg 138w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/600x0,svaoMJSgZWjngBFViQj0u64Gb943QymysxaVY_PLy_EY/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/streetsh-SaDYgcd8Wws-unsplash.jpg 600w," sizes="(max-width: 216px) 100vw, 216px"></a><figcaption data-omnivore-anchor-idx="30">Reading <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="31">No Country For Old Men </em>silently</figcaption></figure></div> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="32">In my case this is mostly an ADHD thing, but it has certainly worsened in the smartphone era, and I’ve heard others make similar complaints. Once-avid readers say they can’t finish books anymore. There are <a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="33" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/books/search/?q=can%27t+focus&type=link&cId=6dd8b0b5-d29d-4a4f-ae03-404e022dcd2f&iId=8336d874-5652-42f2-b23b-557f3435f492">countless threads</a> in Reddit’s r/books subreddit about this. We’re losing our ability to focus, and with so many low-friction competitors for our attention, the relatively effortful pastime of pleasure reading is often one of the first things to go. </p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="34">These days I’m reading aloud whenever I have a chance. For me, most of the time, it’s a just better and more reliable gear to be in. It’s slower than reading silently, but the ride is always a smooth and enjoyable one, with little backsliding. Obviously I’m not going to do it in a coffee shop, but even in places where I’m semi-audible (such as in a hammock at the park) I can still do it at a whisper.</p> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="35"> <figure data-omnivore-anchor-idx="36"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="37" href="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/patrick-robert-doyle-OvXht_wi5Ew-unsplash.jpg"><img data-omnivore-anchor-idx="38" data-omnivore-original-src="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/patrick-robert-doyle-OvXht_wi5Ew-unsplash-300x188.jpg" decoding="async" width="300" height="188" src="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/300x188,sRQ3nYdoE-dtIQC5UKmSNRMv6EYxtRwA903EBFEGn2vQ/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/patrick-robert-doyle-OvXht_wi5Ew-unsplash-300x188.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/300x0,sF95uHB2YZzfbTi7uO91mjuHQ7moWWRLHjY0CBFr-k_I/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/patrick-robert-doyle-OvXht_wi5Ew-unsplash-300x188.jpg 300w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/292x0,sHYATtcBAHNbX8doH5Ac5RYEzLXMp9BdW5edIGbLZxCM/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/patrick-robert-doyle-OvXht_wi5Ew-unsplash-292x183.jpg 292w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/600x0,svi6NuFhkE91wzZzn8D1fSpHGroQQErINJhtXA2zj46w/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/patrick-robert-doyle-OvXht_wi5Ew-unsplash.jpg 600w," sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a><figcaption data-omnivore-anchor-idx="39"><em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="40">Suitable place for reading silently</em></figcaption></figure></div> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="41">Part of me feels ashamed reading aloud at all though, because I’d always been taught that reading aloud is for children and dum-dums. You read aloud only until you learn to read for real.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="42">This idea is a very recent assertion, though. Historically, reading aloud has been much more common. Capable readers used to be rarer, so they frequently had audiences, so reading was commonly thought of as a social, or at least physical, activity. Even scholars often did their reading aloud when they were alone as late as the 19<sup data-omnivore-anchor-idx="43">th</sup> century.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="44">Eventually, a social shift towards individualism and privacy, the advent of public education systems, and more reader-friendly typesetting practices pushed the trend toward silent reading as the norm.</p> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="45"> <figure data-omnivore-anchor-idx="46"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="47" href="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Contrast_a_child_thats_good_with_one_who_hates_his_book_and_school.jpg"><img data-omnivore-anchor-idx="48" data-omnivore-original-src="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Contrast_a_child_thats_good_with_one_who_hates_his_book_and_school-227x300.jpg" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="227" height="300" src="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/227x300,s3CVJr_XOEAf8fFp1RSafdeaPy671JfwB0yyLktcQ0qg/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Contrast_a_child_thats_good_with_one_who_hates_his_book_and_school-227x300.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/227x0,sG9GNea8V3jHWrvkGECgqRUAf9xrtsMvX5VYLKtTDg-Y/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Contrast_a_child_thats_good_with_one_who_hates_his_book_and_school-227x300.jpg 227w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/145x0,sbHGLJvnTp_p9FjSX76QfwMc6fFUW4YgupEIQ74Gz0Ww/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Contrast_a_child_thats_good_with_one_who_hates_his_book_and_school-145x192.jpg 145w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/450x0,sNUK6aebPdTdSztut5fx21ppGFoHQXpdHAQaG2H27OBg/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Contrast_a_child_thats_good_with_one_who_hates_his_book_and_school.jpg 450w," sizes="(max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px"></a><figcaption data-omnivore-anchor-idx="49"><em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="50">“Good lad! Proper reading means not perturbing me.”</em></figcaption></figure></div> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="51">But those were all pretty recent developments. Before the printing press, most reading was done aloud. Famously, St. Augustine once wrote about a fellow monk’s most unusual habit of reading silently:</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="52">“When Ambrose read, his eyes ran over the columns of writing and his heart searched out the meaning, but his voice and his tongue were at rest. Often when I was present—for he did not close his door to anyone and it was customary to come in unannounced—I have seen him reading silently, never in fact otherwise.”</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="53">Augustine’s puzzlement here suggests that at one point, reading was expected to be an embodied, active process, not a passive way of absorbing information. Reading meant<em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="54"> saying</em> what the author has said, rather than just observing it.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="55">Obviously silent reading is possible and worthwhile, but it isn’t a complete substitute for reading aloud. I suspect that in our transition to silent reading, the typical level of reader connection to the text has declined, and has never recovered.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="56">Just try reading a good passage aloud, and notice how much more alive the text becomes, how much more impactful the words feel. The commas breathe. Parentheticals stand cleanly aside from their host sentences. Terminal words reverberate.</p> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="57"> <figure data-omnivore-anchor-idx="58"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="59" href="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Monk_sneaking_a_drink.jpg"><img data-omnivore-anchor-idx="60" data-omnivore-original-src="https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Monk_sneaking_a_drink-300x296.jpg" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="296" src="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/300x296,sIV19Q1sTwVa8Wn82o50ufTyVLgs_SuO3Kwb7Ug5cCYc/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Monk_sneaking_a_drink-300x296.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/300x0,sX5yxn3Hbx9G7vRvUDuuGmJWkCSBWLgQGTc6sKvgSt2w/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Monk_sneaking_a_drink-300x296.jpg 300w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/195x0,sALbg7i-yK93oC8M6V-uY0ewlQT9-fHZ-6ftqiRmZ9nI/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Monk_sneaking_a_drink-195x192.jpg 195w,https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/640x0,sFdHnj2OuXyOwr7DUYipFGa06Tvg3aIOW4rjmZ_dWbCc/https://www.raptitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Monk_sneaking_a_drink.jpg 640w," sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a><figcaption data-omnivore-anchor-idx="61"><em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="62">So ready to read aloud</em></figcaption></figure></div> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="63">It’s great that Ambrose and other pioneers showed us we can read without speech, but I no longer believe that it’s simply a better, more sophisticated way of reading. I think it’s a more convenient, but generally worse way to take in the text.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="64">There are studies demonstrating greater comprehension from reading aloud, which is unsurprising, but it offers something even better than that. When you don’t just comprehend, but <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="65">pronounce</em> the ideas in the text, you put yourself in a better position from which to connect with the author’s mind, which is arguably the whole point of reading. You’re not only receiving their thoughts, you’re running them through your own apparatus of expression. You’re trying them on to see how they feel in your body, how they sound in the air.</p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="66">It’s good to have access to both gears. I’m just sorry I relied on only one of them for so long. Reading aloud may at first feel weirdly slow and exacting for a content-addled 21st-century person, but perhaps the ability to take in ideas in a slow and exacting way is just what we’re missing. </p> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="67">***</p> <div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="68" data-ck-version="7"> <h3 data-omnivore-anchor-idx="69">If you liked this post, get Raptitude sent to you. (It's free.)</h3> <!-- Form starts here --> </div> </div> <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="70"> Desktop version </p></div></DIV></DIV>