Re: "invention" of silent reading (McLuhan)

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#5397

From: John W. Kennedy
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:59

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Henry Hanna wrote:
> A long time ago I read a book by McLuhan stating
> that silent reading was invented in the middle ages.

> Was this such a difficult thing that needed to be
> "invented"?

St. Augustine, one of the most brilliant and well educated men of his 
time (late 4th, early 5th centuries), remarks in awe about the ability 
of St. Ambrose to read silently, and spends some time trying to explain 
why he thinks Ambrose might have done such an extraordinary thing.

-- 
John W. Kennedy
"But now is a new thing which is very old--
that the rich make themselves richer and not poorer,
which is the true Gospel, for the poor's sake."
   -- Charles Williams.  "Judgement at Chelmsford"

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