A boy after my own heart:
The most difficult thing about Jacob and his vocabulary lessons
is restraining his Aspergery impulse to read aloud
page after page from
our old, fat, worn, cover-less, used-for-a-step-stool-and-booster-seat
2,000+ page copy of
Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary – Unabridged (1979).
In fact, personally, I wouldn’t even mind that so much,
except it plays havoc with his sisters’ concentration.
But I really do understand.
There’s an irresistible magnetism in those finely printed pages…
Ann Seeton
10 Jun 2011I’m not aspergers but I can so relate. I loved as a kid both the huge two volume dictionary and a huge old thesarus we had, also, I loved, loved, loved the encyclopedia and spending time browsing the card catalog at our public library.
Computer searches lack peripheral learning opportunities. I learned more from the books I discovered in the card catalog than I did from the books I needed to find, and I learned more in the encyclopedia from the articles I read on my way to what I was looking up, and well, the dictionary and thesarus were made for each other.
There are a LOT of words for red and you can write a rather nice silly story using as many of them as you can.
Yeah, I relate.
nettie
11 Jun 2011My husband dearly wanted a Kindle, so I got him one for Christmas, and he loves it. I am of two minds about it, having used it for reading a couple of books. The portability is lovely and it is definitely easier on the wrists than a lot of the books I would like to read. However… I revel in context, being able to refer back to something I read previously; and I am visual, so I remember things as I saw them on a page. If there’s no page, I have difficulty remembering. And then there’s the simple tactile enjoyment of the paper, especially in high quality books, well constructed, with that smooth, weighty paper that makes an audible sound when the page is turned… and the smell of books! There’s nothing more gratifying than opening up a new book and smelling that new book smell. Reading is a multi-sensory experience to be appreciated for more than merely the acquisition of information!