TELL (The English Language Lab)

01/05/2017

E-books are no longer flying off the e-shelves

It turns out that just because you can read the great works of literature (and all the great business books you can stomach) on an e-reader, doesn't mean everyone wants to.

The Guardian reports that e-book sales in the U.K. have dropped by 17%.

They placed the blame on so-called screen fatigue.

Basically, people are so tired of staring into screens all day for work, and all night for entertainment, and at all other times in between to check on their Tinder -- er, LinkedIn-- profiles, that when it comes to reading a book, readers are yearning for good old-fashioned paper.

Perhaps Amazon and other e-book distributors should start sending book-scented candles out with each purchase.

"I wouldn't say that the e-book dream is over but people are clearly making decisions on when they want to spend time with their screens," Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association, told The Guardian.

Don't hold a wake for your Kindle quite yet, though. While the market is slumping, it still pulled-in £204m ($263 million) from people who don't want anyone on the subway to know what book they're reading.

27/04/2017

Want to live longer? Then read a book.

Could a bit of light reading every day add years to your life?

A new study by Yale University found that reading books was positively correlated with increased lifespan -- people who read books lived for around two years longer than those who didn’t.

In the study, published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, researchers evaluated data on 3,635 Americans aged over 50.

Respondents were separated into those who read for 3.5 hours or more a week, those who read for up to 3.5 hours a week, and those who didn’t read at all, controlling for factors such as gender, race and education.

The researchers discovered that those who read for more than 3.5 hours a week were 23% less likely to die within 12 years, while those who read for up to 3.5 hours a week were 17% less likely to die within that period.

Co-author of the study, Becca R. Levy, Professor of Epidemiology at Yale University, told the New York Times, “People who report as little as a half-hour a day of book reading had a significant survival advantage over those who did not read.”

There are other benefits too.

The researchers found that people who read books showed stronger cognitive abilities, such as recall and counting backwards.

However, reading magazines or newspapers didn’t have the same effect unless readers spent more than seven hours on the activity each week. This was associated with an 11% reduction in mortality.

It is not clear why there is such a strong association between reading and longevity although previous studies have suggested that people who read books tend to be healthier, richer, and better educated in general, all of which could contribute to a longer life.

A separate survey of 4,164 adults in the UK, including both those who read and those who don’t, found that adults who read for just 20 minutes a week are 20% more likely to feel satisfied with their lives.

By contrast, non-readers were 28% more likely to report feelings of depression than those who read regularly for pleasure. One in five readers said that reading helps them to feel less lonely.

Josie Billington, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Research into Reading, University of Liverpool, helped to conduct this research. She explains that reading can help to improve well-being:

"Reading not only helps to introduce or reconnect readers to wider life systems and more broadly shared meanings. It can also remind people of activities or occupations they once pursued, or knowledge and skills they still possess, helping to restore their sense of having a place and purpose in the world," she writes.

"It can also remind people of activities or occupations they once pursued, or knowledge and skills they still possess, helping to restore their sense of having a place and purpose in the world."

18/04/2017

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator)

15/04/2017

"A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read" - Mark Twain (American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer)

06/04/2017

The Japanese practice of 'forest bathing' is scientifically proven to be good for you.

Yet for most of us, it's simply a walk in the woods.

We never give the forest walk that much thought as we see it as an escape from the hurly-burly of city life and to 'do' an activity: to picnic, apprehend a quiet moment of reflection, breathe fresher air, partake of the camaraderie of friends and family, or to canoodle with a new (sometimes even, an old) flame.

Scientific evidence suggests that a walk in the woods, what the Japanese call 'forest bathing' - or "shinrin-yoku" - is beneficial to our health. You don't have go there to 'do' something. You just have to 'be' there.

Forest walks are proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress hormone production, boost the immune system, and improve overall feelings of wellbeing.

Thus forest bathing has become a national pastime in Japan. The point is to relax, rather than accomplish anything. Shinrin-yoku isn't about jogging through the woods or taking a brisk walk to become fitter or lose weight.

The point is to immerse yourself in the pleasure of being in a forest. As well as the physiological benefits, there are psychological ones too. Studies show that people experience significantly reduced hostility and depression scores, coupled with increased liveliness, after exposure to trees.

Forest bathers are advised to pick up a rock, put a problem in it and drop the rock. “You can pick up your troubles again when you leave the forest.”

Don't you hear the trees whispering to you? They sussurate only for us to “try it.”

26/02/2017

The novelist Mohsin Hamid has written a timely article on the dangers of nostalgia afflicting our modern age -- and why we need to imagine a brighter future.

He calls on storytellers to help remove the collective fears about the future that seem to be gripping whole nations - causing them to look backwards in time in a wistful search for assumed old certainties - and to help people look ahead with hope.

Hamid has written a deeply insightful, personal essay. It is well worth taking the time to read; then reflect upon how we as individuals can craft our own personal stories to challenge the prevailing pessimism and anxieties about where the present time is leading us.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/25/mohsin-hamid-danger-nostalgia-brighter-future

Make America great again. Take back control... From politics to culture, we have been gripped by a wave of nostalgia. Mohsin Hamid calls on storytellers to look ahead with hope

29/01/2017

In today's troubled world, classic novels about dystopian futures are witnessing a resurgence in popularity.

The sudden boom for classic dystopian novels began to pick up just after Trump's election in November 2016. It reflects a spontaneous response from readers who are wary of the authoritarian overtones of Mr. Trump’s rhetoric.

Interest in George Orwell's '1984' (written 68 years ago) has swelled after Trump's press secretary Kellyanne Conway talked about "alternative facts", disputing the U.S. media's claims that the crowd at the new President's inauguration was lower than Obama's in 2008.

To many observers, her comment evoked Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian society in which language becomes a political weapon and reality itself is defined by those in power.

As a result Orwell's novel began climbing Amazon’s best-seller list, which in turn has driven more readers to it.

The sudden prominence of such novels reflects a renewed public interest in decades-old works of speculative fiction as guides for understanding our current political moment.

Another classic dystopian work of fiction evidencing a resurgence of interest includes Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel 'It Can’t Happen Here,' a satire about a bellicose presidential candidate who runs on a populist platform in the United States but turns out to be a fascist demagogue.

Margaret Attwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' -- published 32 years ago -- tells the story of a future totalitarian regime that's taken power and stripped women of their civil rights. In the last three months the current publisher has reprinted 100,000 copies.

Readers may be returning to familiar dystopian novels because these stories offer moral clarity at a time when it can be difficult to keep up with the convulsions of the daily news cycle, and the fire hose of information and disinformation on social media.

Perhaps another reason is that, sometimes, it’s nice to be reminded that things could be worse.

20/01/2017

Quit the internet?

It certainly discourages hard thinking and learning in a lot of people. I have first-hand evidence of it among students I teach at university (not all of them, thankfully).

But everything in moderation, I say. The challenge is in being strong enough to resist digital addiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grDmQdNf3Kk

Americans in the aggregate check their devices over 9 billion times a day. Can users moderate their time spent online or should they opt out? Subscribe to FO...

12/01/2017

When Is It OK to brag?

Personally, I'm not fond of people who brag. They tend to be vain and boorish. More likely than not, braggarts hide their flaws or are so bone-headed that they can't see them. There is nothing worse than getting stuck with someone at a dinner party who boasts about their achievements, or material possessions or important people that they associate with. It's enough to make one feel ill and excuse oneself from the dinner table for that very reason!

So imagine my surprise when I happened to come across and article that suggests bragging may be a good thing:

"New research on “self enhancement,” or what most of us call bragging, by psychologists at Brown University shows that people can manipulate how others see them by carefully choosing when and how to boast.

"Brag when you can back up your claim, or there is zero evidence to refute it, and people will see you as competent, albeit arrogant. Stay quiet about your achievements and people will see you as warm and humble, although less capable.

"People who brag—who claim publicly to be better than others at something—fall into two types: Justified braggarts, who can back up their claim, and errant or erroneous braggarts, who are simply exaggerating.

"Bragging is risky. Past research shows that braggarts can be perceived as narcissistic and less moral. In addition, they tend to be less well-adjusted, struggle in relationships and may have lower self-esteem. Women who brag are judged more harshly than men who do."

It appears that there is an art to bragging. You can be boastful but it depends on your style, approach and positioning. So how do you brag well?

Choose your occasion. If you’re in a situation where you’d rather appear likable than impressive, don’t boast.

Never exaggerate. Or steal credit. Or lie. You’ll turn off people. And if they find out they won’t believe anything else about you.

Don’t compare yourself to others. Research shows that people dislike braggarts who express superiority, because this suggest the person views other people, including the listener, negatively. “I make a great spaghetti sauce” is fine. “It’s so much better than the one my sister makes” isn't.

Tell a story. Drop in just a few “brag nuggets." People love stories when they aren’t boring. The bragging will be subtle, less alienating and won’t sound like one-upmanship.

Limit the “I.” It is impossible to avoid starting sentences with the word “I.” But do it too often and you’ll sound insufferable. Bring other people into your story. Share the credit.

09/01/2017

Millions of people are thankful to see the back of 2016. It felt like a year when many of the old certainties of life, grounded in values such as decency, truth and honesty, went up in flames.

We had the shock of Brexit and then the trauma of Trump's election to president of the USA; the impeachment of Brazil's president on corruption charges; and the revelations of corruption centered on the president of South Korea. Around these events swirled many geopolitical tensions in other parts of the world such as the South China Sea, and continuing conflict in the Middle East and in the Ukraine, on Europe's borders. Then there were the many acts of terrorism that killed innocent people as well as the tragic plight of millions of refugees fleeing oppression.

So It's only appropriate, I think, that the American Dialect Society voted 'dumpster fire' as its word of the year for 2016.

Dumpster fire is a metaphor. It's used to describe "an exceedingly disastrous or chaotic situation". It was quoted frequently during the US presidential election campaign, though it can be applied to many of the awful events that occured in 2016, thus defining the year itself.

Here's wishing all TELL! followers a healthy, happy and successful 2017.

Let's all keep a cool head and encourage those around us to do likewise..

18/12/2016

Screen Wars: the battle between Parents and Children

It’s a permanent battle: children glued to devices such as smartphones and tablets, while adults try to turn them off. But what are we really fretting about?

Some parents worry intensely about the perceived negative effects of our digital technology and cybergames on their children's development. They limit - and occasionally totally prohibit - their child's use of the technology.

Other parents are less concerned, more relaxed: they see their children's access to computer games and ability to connect online with friends, as beneficial.

Take the author (and mother) Katie Roiphe, for example. She writes:

"The other day, I did something that is, apparently, not done: I brought my seven-year-old and his friend to a playground while they were hunting for Pokémon on an iPhone. A strong ripple of disapproval ran through assorted benched parentsa... The mothers, stylishly slouchy (this is Brooklyn), were horrified that I would bring this sort of mind-corrupting technology into the sanctuary of the playground. Their boys were doing wholesome things with balls and scooters and mine was holding a phone, looking at the world through the screen, hunting for small creatures dangling off the jungle gym."

Ms. Roiphe argues, however, that allowing children digitial devices that gives them access to the cyberworld of games isn't bad for them. It enriches their world and their young lives.

"Games do what kids have done from time immemorial; impose a more vivid or magical world on to the drab one that adults are constantly foisting on them.....This is the premise behind Narnia, Harry Potter, creature chasing, superhero sparring, dress-up games, fort building.

"The intriguing and mischievous Pokémon, superimposed on supermarket shelves, hanging off the roofs of cars, are part of an elaborate fantasy world. The phrase 'augmented reality' itself suggests a promising heightening of excitement, a stepping up of the glorious.

"Is it possible that what our kids are doing on screens, while less stylishly old-fashioned, is cooler and more demanding or, at least, no more destructive or mind-numbing than the ways we whiled away our own childhood hours?"

And what about the impact of digital tech on the social development of teenagers?

Danah Boyd, an internet scholar, has pointed out, hanging out is part of the work of teenage years; socialising is part of learning to be a functional adult. In 'It’s Complicated', Boyd writes, “Teens turn to, and are obsessed with, whichever environment allows them to connect to friends. Most teens aren’t addicted to social media; if anything, they’re addicted to each other.”

Let's give the last word to Ms. Roiphe. She also argues (quite persuasively in my opinion) that not a few parents are living in a nostalgic and unrealistic past, wanting their offspring to do the things the parents did in times gone by, like playing football outside with friends, or hide-and-seek indoors when it's raining.

"Parents who keep their offspring from the preoccupations of their peers may be creating impossibly precious children who conform to our sentimental ideas of a child but can’t interact with actual children."

It seems, then, that denying children the opportunity to play online (and through play, to learn) may have the opposite result on their social and emotional development.

It's not necessary to agree with everything Ms. Roiphe says, but she does encourage us to think twice before assuming our young digital natives are careening down a path that leads them to digital purgatory.

21/11/2016

Reading more literary fiction helps us develop empathy - our ability to understand another person's condition from their perspective.

You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling.

Most of us know the benefits of reading: how it's capable of expanding our vocabulary, add to our knowledge, even offer different ways of viewing the world, making us less one-dimensional by liberating us from the narrow enclosure of our everyday lives.

And, sometimes, immersing ourselves in reading a book provides a way of escape from the daily stresses and strains of life. Not for nothing does the phrase "curl up with a good book" suggest our need for the occasional escapism. Is it any wonder - after the disappointment of losing the U.S. Presidential election - that Hillary Clinton wanted to " "curl up with a good book and never leave the house again"?

Over the past 10 years scientific studies have shown how long-term exposure to reading novels influences peoples' ability to intuit the emotions and intentions of people in the real world.

But does this apply to any type of fiction? Recently, new studies have sought to answer this question and arrive at an answer: They found that only literary fiction, which requires readers to work at guessing characters’ motivations from subtle cues, fostered empathy.

In these studies, the reading of nonfiction not only failed to spur empathy but also predicted loneliness and social isolation, specially among men. Of course, nonfiction reading has its virtues. Other research suggests that various kinds of nonfiction can prompt empathetic feelings—as long as the narrative is moving and transformative.

It seems that what matters is not whether a story is true. Instead, as one of the researchers says, “If you’re enclosed in the bubble of your own life, can you imagine the lives of others?”

One wonders whether the new U.S. President-elect reads literary fiction. Based upon his comments, attitude and behavior on the campaign trail, probably not.