At the heart of reading well is empathy: the ability and willingness to enter into the thoughts, emotions, and experiences of another person.
Reading is not simply passive comprehension of information, but is an active conversation with another voice. In a selection recently read by our 10th grade Literature students, Mortimer Adler reminds us that “completely passive reading is impossible.
” Reading is the process by which we interpret texts, making decisions about meaning and value. In some sense, reading is an appropriate metaphor for our shared task of understanding ourselves and our world. We “read” circumstances, experiences, and even one another. In this sense, we never stop reading.
Michael Hornbaker,
