
The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud - benbreen
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/08/the-lost-pleasure-of-reading-aloud/
======
mikepurvis
My wife and I had a long-distance courtship. We used to read novels to each
other over Skype. It was a nice change from chatting when we'd run out of
things to say, and a fun way to share favourite stories. We didn't ever try to
read anything really ambitious, but that was part of what made it enjoyable—
even just kids' chapter books, stuff like Gordon Korman, Louis Sachar, Sid
Fleischman.

We don't read to each other as much these days (though sometimes in the car),
but we definitely do read to the kids.

~~~
wyclif
I've begun reading Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" to my 6 year-
old boy, and it's been a wonderful experience for both of us— I've enjoyed it
more than I thought I would, and just as much as our boy does. I hadn't read
it since childhood, and I'd forgotten just how richly whimsical it is and how
formative it was for me and how much it informs my imagination today.

~~~
Vinnl
Heh, my girlfriend and I have been reading that to each other for about two
years I think now. It's highly enjoyable, although a bit hard to follow when
one falls asleep while the other is reading it.

------
sova
Not sure how relevant this is but I worked at a dayschool for a beat and they
had a few service dogs come in to sit with the children while the kids "read
to the dog." Most doggies are really chill and the kids were able to read
without fear of criticism or correction, and the dog was there always happy.
Studies (don't ask me for references, dunno) show that by reading to a dog at
a young age, people become much more confident readers.

~~~
gnicholas
Looks like there was a study [1] that looked at reading skill and reading
attitudes among young children. Attitudes improved, skills did not.

But over time, students with better attitudes toward reading probably do more
of it, and therefore get better at it.

1: [https://phys.org/news/2017-05-therapy-dogs-literacy-
attitude...](https://phys.org/news/2017-05-therapy-dogs-literacy-attitudes-
second-grade.html)

~~~
sova
Attitude can fall under the realm of Skills!

------
kenjackson
I used to read to my kids and what is interesting is that for the first time
in my life I discovered some things that I never learned as I went through
school.

1) Reading poetry is really enjoyable. To this day, if my son asks me to read
to him, I'll probably try to read poetry. It just feels so good to read.

2) There are certain books that I really enjoy reading aloud and others that I
don't. And its not the content, but just the feel of the words coming off my
tongue.

Concrete examples, my favorite children's book to read is "The Little Island".
Even thinking about reading it makes me feel a little happy. A book that I
don't like to read aloud, but like the message, is "The Little Engine that
Could" (this version [https://www.amazon.com/Little-Engine-Could-Original-
Classic/...](https://www.amazon.com/Little-Engine-Could-Original-
Classic/dp/0448405202/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AM2P5DP8XQCQ3XNGB473)).
I found it a chore to read that book out loud.

~~~
abraae
Try reading Dr. Seuss's "Fox in socks" for a chore.

~~~
KGIII
When hiring secretarial and sales staff, I'd have them read that book. It was
a great way to tell their abilities to enunciate and share information. It was
also good to see how well they'd perform under pressure.

~~~
quickthrower2
Old fashioned whiteboarding

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ztjio
I generally hate reading aloud. I find that most writing is really NOT meant
to be "heard" in reality, only in the mind. However, recently I decided to
show my daughter (who has taken an interest in popular RPG video games like
Undertale) some older games that I liked when I was younger. As you might
guess, these games lack a voice track and while we can both read fine, we read
at different speeds. So there is always an awkward wait before continuing to
the next dialog screen.

So we solved it by just reading the dialog and that actually turned out to be
pretty fun. We'd split up the characters and sometimes make some funny voices
and just go for it. As a bonus, it helps you realize just how awful the
writing is in some of the most beloved old video games (Square, I'm looking
your way, you spoony bard.)

~~~
bench_soup
_I find that most writing is really NOT meant to be "heard" in reality_

As a counter-example, Flaubert used to scream his texts in his "gueuloir" as a
way to perfect them.

 _wrong written sentences do not resist this test; they oppress the chest,
hinder the heartbeat and thus are apart from real life conditions._

------
tlb
I love to read aloud.

I wish more books came with a readaloud guide. Sometimes, characters are
introduced that deserve distinctive vocal styles that aren't obvious right
away. So after five lines of dialog, you find out the new character is a woman
with a strong eastern-European accent, and you'd been reading her words like a
man.

Tolkien is wonderful to read aloud, except for the damn songs. You arrive at a
song (some of which are relevant to the plot, so you you can't skip them) and
mumble your way through it like one of the obscure psalms. Ugh. But soon the
great prose flows again, and all is good.

I read the whole of Harry Potter aloud to my kids, starting about age 5. The
early books aren't too scary for a 5-6yo boy, though they get scarier. Those
were the first books I read to them that I enjoyed too, a huge improvement
over Cat in the Hat.

Although audiobooks make reading aloud obsolete in some sense, I feel it's one
of the most enjoyable obsolete activities.

------
jmcgough
A ex and I used to read favorite novels to each other, a chapter or so every
night one of us stayed over. There's something very intimate about it, and
it's fun to be able to discuss characters and the books' deeper concepts as
you go along. Maybe I romanticize it because I was read to a lot when I was a
child.

On nice days my partner and I've been going to a nearby park, where I'll read
Snow Crash to them.

It's a bit like putting a record on a record player. You make a conscious
decision to focus on the experience and cut out other distractions.

~~~
komali2
Snow Crash is amazing, this is a fantastic idea. Do you get into it with
character voices? I feel like I could up my D&D DM exposition skills with this
:P

~~~
jmcgough
Yes! I used to do stage productions in school, so I love getting really into
the characters and giving them unique voices.

~~~
komali2
Same! If you're into it I highly recommend trying out a tabletop RP game, I
recently discovered how much of a blast they can be. Tickles my acting tooth
:)

------
dangayle
It's been long established that reading aloud to your children is one of the
best ways to advance their early learning.
([https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2267171](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2267171))

~~~
jasode
The (controversial) economist Steven D. Levitt pointed out that there was no
correlation between parents reading to children and reading test scores.[1]

I don't know which studies are accurate. I just remember that story because
the findings were counter-intuitive.

[1] "Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which tracks the progress of more
than 20,000 American schoolchildren from kindergarten through the fifth
grade." \--
[https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005...](https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-05-03-parents-
edit_x.htm)

~~~
b_emery
The editorial you site is from 2005, while the other paper is from 2014. The
latter looks like a large and well designed study. Here is a quote from the
conclusion:

"What are the implications of our findings? Our main finding is that it is
important that young children are being read to. This is an early-life
intervention that seems to be beneficial for the rest of their lives. We show
that there is an important role for parents in the educational performance of
their children. The evidence strongly suggests that parental reading to
children gives them a head-start in life."

I haven't studied either enough to say for sure, but it appears the the 2014
paper is trying to measure the marginal benefit of reading, while the Levitt
study was looking at larger correlations. The Levitt study suggests that smart
parents end up with smart kids, reading or not. What is more interesting to me
at least, is what can I do to help my kids succeed? The 2014 paper comes
closer to answering this question, and suggests reading to them helps.

~~~
jasode
_> The Levitt study suggests that smart parents end up with smart kids,
reading or not._

To clarify, it wasn't a "Levitt study" per se. It was government study. The
government had questionnaires asking parents _" how often do you read to your
children?"_ and it had the children's reading test scores. Levitt found no
correlation in those 2 datapoints.

------
clord
Just finished reading the hobbit and lord of the rings to my 7 year old. I
absolutely loved it, and he's a full blown Tolkien nut now. Previously we read
through Harry Potter.

By the end I noticed I have really developed a voice. He has developed a
richer vocabulary (dad what is "clemency") and is better at reading between
the lines. Certainly enjoyable and educational for everyone. Looking forward
to the next series we read and will miss this when he starts reading this
stuff on his own. Was thinking of volenteeering at an old folks home.

~~~
EugenioPerea
I read Harry Potter to my kids, on Periscope, and it turned out to be
wonderful. Their English skills developed tremendously, we spent a lot of time
together doing it, and they understood that the internet needs constant input
from normal users to remain such a fantastic resource.

------
petercooper
I love reading, but since having kids (I'd never had to read aloud before)
have discovered I find the sensations around reading _aloud_ to be extremely
unpleasant. Anything that rhymes/has a sing-song meter is OK.. but I find
normal prose gruelling and can't wait for it to be over. It feels like a sort
of claustrophobia, but trapped by the slowness rather than physically. I often
end up paraphrasing or dropping unnecessary words as I go to make better
progress.

~~~
ashark
The fun for me's in getting all the intonation and emphasis _just_ right. You
don't have to "do the voices" or anything over the top, but just try to read
it how a good narrator might.

Try reading them adult books (if you're not already—and especially classics,
they tend to have really nice prose that you want to run your eyes over
several times just for the sensation, anyway) or classics of children's
literature (e.g. _The Jungle Book_ ). Might help. Lots of childrens' books are
just plain bad.

~~~
roceasta
_> intonation and emphasis just right._

Yes. The emphasis carries a lot of information in addition to the simple text.
I find it hard to do when reading aloud from a book I haven't myself read
before. In fact I think it's one reason I tend to pick my personal childhood
favourites to read.

Perhaps this is lazy. I wonder if other parents do the same?

~~~
ashark
It's a skill you get better at. Correctly guessing most of the time, looking a
little ahead when you can, that kind of thing. Like sight reading music,
really. Combination of well-trained intuition that mostly gets things right
and sneaking a peak at the next few notes or bars when you have the
opportunity. Definitely works some different mental muscles than silent
reading.

[EDIT] I've read my kids a couple old favorites, though not ones I've read
recently. In part I've used them as an excuse to get through entries my
personal to-read list, in fact. Multitasking! Especially when they're really
young, they don't know the difference. My 4-year-old's super into Ovid right
now, which is awesome. Have to skip the too-sexy or ultra-violent (or, uh,
both) bits, but it's working alright.

------
ben_straub
We've been reading aloud to our kids for _years_ now, and it's a great way to
all share an imaginary world together. A great resource we found is the Read
Aloud Handbook [1], which includes an enormous list of great books, and the
appropriate age at which to first encounter them.

Also, since my son had an extended stay in another state, we recorded
ourselves reading books aloud to his sister, packaged them into audiobooks,
and put them on his iPod. This really helped us feel connected as a family. I
wrote a blog post about how to do it [2].

[1]: [http://www.trelease-on-reading.com](http://www.trelease-on-reading.com)
[2]:
[https://ben.straub.cc/2017/05/12/audiobooks/](https://ben.straub.cc/2017/05/12/audiobooks/)

------
GuiA
For material that I struggle understanding upon first read (e.g. academic
papers), I often find myself pacing in circles in my room/backyard, reading it
aloud, slowly, with proper intonation, as if I was lecturing. It helps a lot,
although my neighbors probably think I'm crazy.

------
tomcam
I read aloud to our children every night for about 10 years. They are both
phenomenal readers and actors. I read to them because it gave me extra snuggle
time.

------
civilian
My parents read outloud to me and my brother a lot as we were growing up. And
now, this is something I really like doing with people I date? I have a couple
of books of short stories that I'm slowing working through. Short stories are
vital because my girlfriends _zonk_ a handful of pages in, but they still have
really liked it.

------
aureliano
Interesting, reading aloud has been a tradition inside every cigar factory in
Cuba since the 19th century. [http://mashable.com/2016/11/19/cigar-factory-
lectors/#l37Rcj...](http://mashable.com/2016/11/19/cigar-factory-
lectors/#l37Rcjcey5qw)

~~~
reaperducer
And before there was a Cuba or a New World, being a lector was a profession in
the factories and workshops of Europe.

~~~
contingencies
IIRC I read recently that unions organized this, and the level of education
amongst some factory workers was actually extremely high.

------
jefflombardjr
Currently reading an Abraham Lincoln Biography and apparently he used to drive
one of the persons he boarded with crazy because he would read aloud. When
asked why he said something to the effect of "Seeing and hearing is easier to
remember than just seeing"

Book is
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4059448-a-lincoln](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4059448-a-lincoln)
if anyone is interested.

------
mbroncano
Although still a WIP, I found out that reading to my (mostly bilingual) kids
in the non-dominant language is helping them mastering those subtle cues that
previously gave them away as non-native speakers. A lot of those issues are
pretty difficult to identify upfront e.g. homophones and reading aloud makes
them evident to them. Correct entonation and cadence come along naturally now
too.

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mikehain
I was reading Augustine one day and was struck by a passage that referred a
silent reading in a way that made it seem quite uncommon in those days. Here
it is, referring to Ambrose of Milan:

"When he was reading, his eyes ran over the page and his heart perceived the
sense, but his voice and tongue were silent. He did not restrict access to
anyone coming in, nor was it customary even for a visitor to be announced.
Very often when we were there, we saw him silently reading and never
otherwise. After sitting for a long time in silence (for who would dare to
burden him in such intent concentration?) we used to go away. We supposed that
in the brief time he could find for his mind's refreshment, free from the
hubbub of other people's troubles, he would not want to be invited to consider
another problem. We wondered if he read silently perhaps to protect himself in
case he had a hearer interested and intent on the matter, to whom he might
have to expound the text being read if it contained difficulties, or who might
wish to debate some difficult questions. If his time were used up in that way,
he would get through fewer books than he wished. Besides, the need to preserve
his voice, which used easily to become hoarse, could have been a very fair
reason for silent reading. Whatever motive he had for his habit, this man had
a good reason for what he did."

~~~
SamBam
This passage is often cited by people (not you) who claim that before St
Augustine's time people _could not_ read silently. E.g.
[https://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/LatinBackground/Sil...](https://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/LatinBackground/SilentReading.html):
" _There is no disputing the fact that the Romans read everything aloud, in
fact they were apparently not able to read silently._ "

This seems greatly implausible. Consider, for example, the fact that the Roman
walls were often covered in graffiti. The idea that a Roman would have to
vocalize all of them to find one that seemed funny seems absurd. Further,
there are examples in plays of a character reading a letter silently.

It does seem, though, that there have been times in specific cultures when
reading _prose_ or _poetry_ aloud would have been considered the norm, and
whether or not one _could_ read silently, it wouldn't have been in anybody's
habit to do so, because prose and poetry were "meant" to be read aloud. The
notion, then, that someone could apparently "hear" all the musicality of the
text while reading silently may indeed then have been cause for surprise.

------
cyberferret
One of my fondest memories of our trip to England/Scotland many years ago, was
my wife in the passenger seat reading me entire chapters of a book that I had
bought in a beautiful little bookshop earlier in the trip while we did long
cross country drives.

Must admit though, that my wife has a fantastic speaking voice, and should
probably do voice over work or something in her spare time. We were both at a
seminar once, where the presenter asked her to read out some customer quotes.
As soon as she read the first one, he basically handed her the script to read
most of his actual presentation after that.

Myself personally though, I don't read aloud much at all. I always find that
my brain tends to work _much_ faster than my mouth muscles, and I frequently
speak too fast or stumble over words, which results in me speaking less in
public in front of strangers especially.

------
nevatiaritika
When I started living alone the first time, I realised I miss someone to talk
to, a friend or family. But I was into reading. So I started reading aloud to
myself

1\. I stopped skimming, actually started reading

2\. I got tired faster and didn't feel alone anymore

3\. Learnt more pronunciation and spellings correctly

It's a great exercise!

------
j_s
Just wanted to say I really appreciate all the personal anecdotes people are
sharing; the personal stories aren't often shared in this quantity in one
discussion here and doing so somehow changes the entire experience in a very
positive way. Up-votes all around!

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ycombinete
I travel a lot, and while I'm on the road my fiance often struggles to get to
sleep. I've got a small microphone that I travel with, and I record myself
reading _Winnie the Pooh_ stories, and chapters from _The Hobbit_. I host them
on my website, and she can open it up and listen to a chapter.

Children's stories are better for this, as they are usually written with the
view of being read aloud. Plus they also make better bedtime stories :)

------
__s
Made a drinking game of it with my gf: any time Lovecraft used something
racist, antediluvian, eldritch, horror, terror, geometry, ineffable, someone
drank.. Good times

------
SubiculumCode
I am reading the original Dragon Lance saga to my two daughters. Very
enjoyable, but I'm not satisfied by my voicing of Raistlin.

------
k__
I often read articles for girlfriends. Especially interesting or funny ones.

~~~
JTxt
Nice. For dates we'd go to a library or book store, take random books and
dramatically read the first, middle, and last lines. And speculate on the rest
and/or make fun of it.

------
d--b
My wife and I read books together all the time... Especially the complex ones,
so we can talk about it while we read. I don't see it as weird or lost at
all...

------
cafard
My wife had cataract surgery this summer. (We are not kids.) She had a book
club meeting coming up shortly, so with her eyes still bothering her, I read
about 30 pages of the club's next book to her. She then bought an audio
version from the iTunes in the next day or so, and said that the narrator read
much better than I did. I did not doubt this.

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thebigspacefuck
I love audiobooks because of the pacing. Sometimes I realize I'm bored with a
book because I'm trying to race through it. It's nice to slow down and
actually process things.

I've read books to my SO before and it was enjoyable, but she usually ended up
falling asleep and I was stuck debating whether I should continue.

------
chaoticmass
Anything Carl Sagan wrote is a pleasure to read aloud. I read in his biography
that he did most of his writing by dictation.

------
hotgoldminer
Excellent for camping trips.

