Reading- The Grand Illusion: How and Why People Make Sense of Print

by Ken Goodman, Peter Fries, Steven L. Strauss

What is reading? In this groundbreaking book, esteemed researchers Ken Goodman, Peter Fries, and Steven Strauss, explain not only what reading really is but also why common sense makes it seem to be something quite different from that reality. How can this grand illusion be explained? That is the purpose of this book. As the authors show, unraveling the secrets of the grand illusion of reading teaches about far more than reading itself, but also about how remarkable human language is, how the brain uses language to navigate the world, what it means to be human.



Each author brings a different perspective, but all share a common view of the reading process. Together they provide a clear and surprising exposition of the reading process, in which they involve readers of this book in exploring the ways they themselves read and make sense of written language while their eyes fixate on fewer than 70 percent of the words in the text. In addition, the authors engage in a cross-disciplinary discussion about how readers use the brain, eyes, and language in reading. The different perspectives provide depth to the authors' description of reading. The information presented in this book will be new to many teachers, researchers, teacher educators, and the public alike. The final chapter draws on the understandings from the book to challenge the treatment of reading and writing as school subjects and offers the basis for supporting literacy development as a natural extension of oral language development.

186 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2016

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodman's conclusion: Reading is easy. "Written language should be easier to learn than oral language." But it's more than this. He proposes that it should not even be taught as a separate skill in classrooms.

Goodman is known for developing the whole language approach to reading, and this book is only interesting in that it offers insight into this approach. But considering that neurological and research-based evidence suggests that reading is not a pre-programmed human skill - despite all claims to the contrary in this book - it's no wonder that whole language is so ineffective for so many children.

[Smoran8m · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Forward of this book (by Brian Cambourne) states that the format, content, and structure of this book are so dramatically different that it has the potential to bring on revolution. I thought that was hyperbole required for a forward, but it was actually correct. Reading this book is like sitting in on a roundtable discussion with Ken Goodman, Peter Fries, and Steven Strauss. One author picks up an idea, and the other carries it to a new place. It is extremely interactive, an unusual quality in a book about reading. It also makes you think about your own assumptions.

[John Kissell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodman, Fries and Strauss have mistaken what an experienced reader does for the whole reading skill. They get the science of reading right, but then ignore it to reach their conclusion. There's no illusion; reading is work from the very beginning to the very end.

[Jeffery Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book seems to culminate a life's work on literacy education and focuses on reading but also carries over into philosophies of learning in general. The insights of an educator that are now being affirmed by scientific research are enlightening. Literacy is so much more that the narrow focus public education is obsessed with. Learning is so much more than that which public education espouses. An open-minded read of this person's work is well worth the time.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content and form combine in this brilliant conversation between a linguist, a neurobiologist and a reading researcher. What they all agree on is that current reading tuition, centred around different types of 'phonics' programmes, fails readers, fails language and fails reading.