{"product_id":"readers-block-a-history-of-reading-differences-hardback-9781503632493","title":"Reader's Block; A History of Reading Differences (Hardback) 9781503632493","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eReader's Block\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA History of Reading Differences\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMatthew Rubery (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781503632493\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 4 October 2022\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e288 pages, 13 halftones\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"By constructing a detailed map of mis-reading, Rubery argues for the value of non-normative reading experiences. Some differences are disabling, he recognizes, but others make visible aspects of reading that go unnoticed and unappreciated when they function smoothly.\"—Paul Armstrong, author of \u003ci\u003eStories and the Brain\u003c\/i\u003e \"Rubery uncovers the hidden history of neurodiverse reading (and non-reading). Drawing upon everything from clinical studies to life writing, this is a brilliant and remarkably original work that challenges and subverts a whole set of received wisdoms about how readers engage with books. After \u003ci\u003eReader's Block,\u003c\/i\u003e you will never again make cozy assumptions about how and why people read.\"—Shafquat Towheed, coeditor of \u003ci\u003eThe History of Reading\u003c\/i\u003e \"An inclusive, beautifully formulated invitation to think of reading as a cluster of practices as prolific as the minds and the texts nourished in their combination. Rubery is one of the most sensitive and original scholars working with literature today.\"—Christina Lupton, author of \u003ci\u003eLove and the Novel\u003c\/i\u003e \"This is a fascinating, innovative, and skillful book which presents its deep research and learning fluently and lightly. Thought-provoking, timely, and moving, \u003ci\u003eReader's Block\u003c\/i\u003e is essential reading for those interested in disability studies and the history of the book.\"—Sophie Ratcliffe, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Properties of Love\u003c\/i\u003e \"A thoughtful and timely survey of neuro-divergent readers' singular, complex, sometimes fraught relationship with the written word.\"—Daniel Tammet, author of \u003ci\u003eEvery Word is a Bird We Teach to Sing\u003c\/i\u003e \"Rubery gives us fresh eyes to grasp the semi-miraculous nature of the reading act in all its complexity and potential for transforming the life of every reader and the species itself.\"—Maryanne Wolf, author of \u003ci\u003eReader, Come Home\u003c\/i\u003e \"By its very nature, \u003ci\u003eReader's Block\u003c\/i\u003e is designed for casual reading—and particularly for people interested in science, history, literature and neurodiversity.\"—Matthew Rozsa, \u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e \"Thinking about reading in terms of the different reading behaviors these essays about atypical readers document can help one achieve a broader, more inclusive understanding of what \u003ci\u003eread\u003c\/i\u003e actually means.... Recommended.\"—J. F. Andrews, \u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e \"Matthew Rubery's... remarkably well-researched catalogue of neurodivergent reading experiences reveals how many different ways brains can engage with texts, demonstrating that this seemingly quotidian activity is neither unitary nor widely understood.\"—Timothy Aubry, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Literary History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat does the term \"reading\" mean? Matthew Rubery's exploration of the influence neurodivergence has on the ways individuals read asks us to consider that there may be no one definition.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis alternative history of reading tells the stories of \"atypical\" readers and the impact had on their lives by neurological conditions affecting their ability to make sense of the printed word: from dyslexia, hyperlexia, and alexia to synesthesia, hallucinations, and dementia. Rubery's focus on neurodiversity aims to transform our understanding of the very concept of reading. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrawing on personal testimonies gathered from literature, film, life writing, social media, medical case studies, and other sources to express how cognitive differences have shaped people's experiences both on and off the page, Rubery contends that there is no single activity known as reading. Instead, there are multiple ways of reading (and, for that matter, not reading) despite the ease with which we use the term. Pushing us to rethink what it means to read, \u003ci\u003eReader's Block\u003c\/i\u003e moves toward an understanding of reading as a spectrum that is capacious enough to accommodate the full range of activities documented in this fascinating and highly original book.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRead it from cover to cover, out of sequence, or piecemeal. Read it upside down, sideways, or in a mirror. For just as there is no right way to read, there is no right way to read this book. What matters is that you are doing something with it—something that Rubery proposes should be called \"reading.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIntroduction: The Unideal Reader\u003cbr\u003e  1. Dyslexia\u003cbr\u003e  2. Hyperlexia\u003cbr\u003e  3. Alexia\u003cbr\u003e  4. Synesthesia\u003cbr\u003e  5. Hallucinations\u003cbr\u003e  6. Dementia\u003cbr\u003e  Epilogue\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52523049091352,"sku":"9781503632493","price":19.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/readers-block-a-history-of-reading-differences-hardback-9781503632493","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}