When you narrow in on a part of science it is easy to lose sight of the rest. That’s how I feel when it comes to Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read. It’s been a while since I read much about cognitive neuroscience, so it’s a novel rediscovery. Though the most interesting point that I’ve internalized so far is that the irrationality of the English spelling system does result in a cost in terms of the amount of time that children must invest to become functionally literate. Apparently the Turkish transition from the Arabic script to Latin alphabet resulted in immediate yields in literacy gains, illustrating that writing systems are not arbitrarily useful.
Second, another comment about my comments policy:
I’ve been reading your blog for some time. It is always interesting. But one thing frequently puzzles me. The prose in your main posts is always so reasonable and persuasive that I am surprised by your surly, intemperate responses to some of the commenters. Often, as in your reply to Sean, you totally ignore the commenter’s remarks and simply “go postal.” Whether or not Sean has completed “post-doctoral research” really has nothing to do with the quality of his remarks.
First, I know more than you. You really should shut up sometimes. I know the post-doctoral researcher in question, and he’s done more thought on issues of reproduction than you or Sean have forgotten. So I don’t want people to waste his, mine, or, your, time. Don’t think I don’t keep track of commenters and what they’ve said. Comments can’t be evaluated in a singular fashion. If people have commented intelligently or informatively in the past, they get slack. If not, no.
Second, a recent poll suggests that 4 percent of Americans say they are less intelligent than average. It’s pretty obvious that people overestimate their intelligence and knowledgeability, and this includes readers of this weblog. I spend time, away from other activities, writing these posts. If you don’t like them, don’t read them. I don’t care. But if you make a comment don’t waste my time. If you tell me something I don’t know, I’m going to be happy. If you make errors in areas where I am more knowledgeable than you, I will not be happy. Unfortunately many readers of this weblog are used to being the “smartest person” in the room. That means that often they think I should be happy with their incredible comments, when they only usually pass muster because of their pathetic peer groups (this tends to be a major problem with older commenters who are never told that they’re not awesome).
My main posts are “reasonable and persuasive” because I do a lot of reading and thinking. If your comments are well informed and well thought out, I won’t be surly.
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