On Abecedarian Reading

“Reading, as Alberto Manguel elaborates in his book A History of Reading, came before writing. Ancient astronomers read the stars. Ancient hunters read animal tracks. Ancient diviners read the guts of sacrificed animals. Even today, reading is not entirely about reading writing. Farmers read the sky to ascertain the weather. Card players read the faces of their opponents. Lovers read each other’s faces. All these readers ‘attribute meaning to a system of signs and then decipher it’ (Manguel). Still, the best part of reading is reading books. Books written by writers.”

Priscilla Long, “On Writing: An Abecedarian,” hudsonreview.com/2022/01/on-writing-an-abecedarian/