Is reading under threat? No says Alan Jacobs-but people do need help iand encouragemnt to enjoy it to the full Jacobs's experience as a lecturer & many-time author suggests that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well with proper focus & attentiveness with due discretion & discernment Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is first & foremost good for you-the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts For such people indeed for all readers Jacobs offers some simple powerful & much needed advice read at whim read what gives you delight & do so without shame whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible He offers an insightful accessible & playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction poetry or nonfiction & the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading reading responsively rereading & reading on electronic devices Invitingly written with equal measures of wit & erudition The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children