Proust and the Squid

An intriguing look at your brain on books. The book delves into both the evolutionary history of reading, the nitty-gritty of how the brain adapts itself to this very complex skill, and the ways in which that process goes wrong (ie, dyslexia). Most intriguingly, the author tries to draw an analogy between the transition from oral to written culture, to the transition between written and digital culture. Some things were lost (the ability to really Socratically question knowledge), but much was gained (the time to think deeply and keep a cultural history alive).