sable’s Reviews > Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business > Status Update
sable
is on page 107 of 184
the difference living in a culture that provides little opportunity for leisure, and one that provides much.
the farm boy following the plough with book in hand, the mother reading aloud to her family on a sunday afternoon, the merchant reading announcements of the latest clipper arrivals - these were different kinds of readers from those of today.
— May 07, 2024 11:10AM
the farm boy following the plough with book in hand, the mother reading aloud to her family on a sunday afternoon, the merchant reading announcements of the latest clipper arrivals - these were different kinds of readers from those of today.
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sable
is on page 26 of 184
beginning in the fourteenth century, the clock made us into time-keepers, and then time-savers, and now time-servers.
in the process, we have learned irreverence toward the sun and the seasons, for in a world made up of seconds and minutes, the authority of nature is superseded
— Apr 25, 2024 12:26PM
in the process, we have learned irreverence toward the sun and the seasons, for in a world made up of seconds and minutes, the authority of nature is superseded
for we must also remember that this was a culture without electricity. It would not have been easy to read by either candlelight or, later, gaslight. doubtless, much reading was done between dawn and the start of the day's business.
what reading would have been done was done seriously, intensely, and with steadfast purpose. the modern idea of testing a reader's "comprehension," as distinct from something else a reader may be doing, would have seemed an absurdity in 1790 or 1830 or 1860.
what else was reading but comprehending?