The Risk of Reading

Reviews / Votes

The Risk of Reading is a bracing polemic in an age of digital overload about the centrality of language, in its most inticate narrative and figurative forms, for forging human purpose. Waxler investigates what is essential in literature for reckoning with fundamental experiences of mortality and desire. This is its necessary risk. * David Sherman, Assistant Professor of English, Brandeis University, USA * Robert Waxler's The Risk of Reading makes a persuasive case for the significance of literary reading to human life and understanding. In the first chapter, Waxler argues the value of 'deep reading' of literature as a way to journey to new worlds, observing that readers who take the risk also reap the rewards which come from engaging with story and the rich language of narrative. He then guides his readers on a series of journeys through literary works that well illustrate the importance of literature as initiating a deep reading process. In the final chapter, Waxler suggests that the real 'risk of reading' lies in the risk of not reading, especially as electronic media beckon. * Martha C. Pennington, Distinguished Visiting Professor of English, City University of Hong Kong, and Research Fellow in Language and Communication, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK * The Risk of Reading is a passionate and provocative account of why literature matters. Waxler provides a practical guide to major works of classic and popular fiction, from Frankenstein to Fight Club, and a powerful and sophisticated argument for the ethical and intellectual value of reading. * Joshua Kotin, Assistant Professor of English, Princeton University, USA * The Risk of Reading is a clarion call to protect and perpetuate a centuries old educational tradition of a 'deep reading' of the written literary masterpieces. Although an unintended consequence, that tradition is being threatened by the increasing number of bells and whistles of the current digital culture. The latter is grounded in visual images and sound bytes and does not involve self-reflection and the search for the meaning and purpose of our existence. We are not enjoined, however, to repudiate the digital culture. Instead, we are correctly reminded that there is no digital equivalent of the linguistic narrative in the works of Plato, St. Augustine, Shakespeare, Hemingway, Tolstoy and a legion of other literary giants. Professor Waxler has eloquently and profusely elaborated the uniquely human reality that it is impossible to exaggerate the power of stories, ideas and concepts to grab a mind and radically change the direction of a life. * Lawrence T. Jablecki, Lecturer in the Master of Liberal Studies Program, Rice University, USA * Some books do not fit neatly into genre categories. J. David Pleins offers us an excellent example of a multidisciplinary work with In Praise of Darwin. It is part history, part literary critique, part philosophy, and part theology. -- Bethany Sollereder, University of Exeter, UK * Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith * Waxler argues that in these speedy, image-saturated digital times we risk losing the habit of reading deeply. With chapters that act as companions to an array of novels, including Frankenstein, The Catcher in the Rye, and Fight Club, Waxler, a UMass Dartmouth English professor, argues that deep reading forces us to slow down and that losing ourselves in literature allows us to return to regular life with fresh eyes. * Brown Alumni Magazine * Waxler's newest book, [The Risk of Reading: How Literature Helps Us Understand Ourselves and the World], is a ground-breaking publication that 'explores some of the meaning and implications of modern life through the deep reading of significant books.' -- J. North Conway * Herald News * Waxler has nine chapters in each of which he discusses a book that you might like to read, to open yourself to the kind of risk of deep reading that he has in mind. ... I found myself engaged by his discussions of them. -- Keith Oatley * Onfiction * Reading properly, in Waxler's view, teaches us how much we do not know, not how much we know, about our mysterious universe and human interaction ... Waxler is not attempting to imbue his readers with cultural literacy; rather, he's trying to teach them how to read deliberately ... We shouldn't fail to recognize the skill with which Waxler dissects texts. -- Allen Mendenhall, The University Bookman