Summary Of In The Beginning Of The Word By Christine Rosen

Today, technology is highly used as a tool to read. People are lacking the ability to pick-up a book and read. Since laptops and e-readers are commonly used, people are constantly being exposed to distractions. In the passage “In the Beginning of the Word,” Christine Rosen emphasizes on how E-readers are changing the way people read. E-readers impose distractions on the reader’s experience, by causing a barrier to disconnect the reader from the reading; books enhance imagination and allow the reader to feel inclusive. C.S Lewis states “We read to know we are not alone.” He believed that people engage in a unique experience when they read a book. In other words, fiction is a tool used to tell stories that connect the readers’ experiences to
The imagination aspect of the fictional book allows the reader to create their own visuals of the reading. Those who read fictional books will use descriptive words visualize the characters and setting of the book. However, online readers are reliant on other people’s visuals, instead of formulating their own visuals. I believe that people are becoming lazy when it comes to reading. People are becoming dependent on images; they can’t formulate their own images anymore, because someone else already has done that for them. I have a lot of friends that hate reading without pictures. They say that pictures are what make the book interesting to read and help visualize what is going on in the book. Therefore, my friends prefer to read online because online versions typically include pictures. However, I believe that reading traditional books is meant for the reader to formulate their own images of what’s going on in the book. I think it’s important for people to come up with their own visuals of the book, because not everyone will interpret the book the same. When people are able to use their own interpretations of the book, the reader gains the ability to engage more in the reading, because the visuals of the book are all in the reader’s visuals I think images that are provided inhibit people from having their own thoughts about the book because it influences people to follow the