Humans have been reading for thousands of years, but ever since the invention of television, people have been worried that reading is in decline. The latest worry is that, even if the Internet has caused an uptick in the quantity of our reading, we're reading on screens instead of paper, and this seems to degrade the quality of our reading.

On this episode, technology writer Clive Thompson talks about the history of reading as a technology, why we're worried about its future, and what happened when he tried to read War and Peace on his iPhone.

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Links:

Clive Thompson's essay about reading War and Peace on his iPhone

Clive Thompson's essay about the novelty effect

Clive Thompson's book Smarter than You Think

Hanna Rosin's article for The Atlantic about children and screens

Amaranth Borsuk & Brad Bouse: Between Page and Screen

Music:

Curious Process by Podington Bear

Oxygen Garden by Chris Zabriskie

Deeper by Phlox.s

Rythn by Podington Bear

Mensa by Podington Bear

Steppin Intro by Podington Bear

Program Reverie by Podington Bear

Euphoric by Podington Bear

Respiration by Podington Bear

88 by Podington Bear