• The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction 📚
• by Alan Jacobs
• Publication date: 2011-05-26
• Read: Nov 2, 2025
• Link

I randomly found this book at the bookstore and was very curious about it. I’ve been trying to make regular time for reading throughout the last couple of years and it’s often a pull between reading time and all the chores and distractions that also exist. So I was really curious about this book in a kind of meta way. The author approaches the topic of reading from a number of angles and first and foremost clears up the ever lasting cliche of there being “good” or “proper” books to read and lesser ones. He encourages reading on a whim (or Whim as he defines it) that which one is curious about. And actively shuns reading list that should be worked through. Probably owed to the fact that the author is a literature academic the book feels fairly intellectual at times. But overall I really enjoyed the book and it made me want to read even more.