Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World 1st Edition

by Naomi S. Baron (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 11 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0199315765
ISBN-10: 0199315760
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$7.09 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$18.56 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
More Buying Choices
49 New from $14.87 30 Used from $7.09
79 used & new from $7.09
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Prime Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

Windows10ForDummiesVideo
Windows 10 For Dummies Video Training
Get up to speed with Windows 10 with this video training course from For Dummies. Learn more.
$18.56 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World
  • +
  • Mind Change: How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains
  • +
  • Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better
Total price: $54.21
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Mind Change: How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains
    Susan Greenfield
    3.7 out of 5 stars 19
    Hardcover
    $20.41 Prime
  2. Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better
    Clive Thompson
    4.4 out of 5 stars 78
    Paperback
    $15.24 Prime
  3. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
    Maryanne Wolf
    4.3 out of 5 stars 103
    Paperback
    $9.43 Prime
  4. Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World
    Naomi Baron
    4.0 out of 5 stars 12
    Paperback
    $15.76 Prime
  5. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies
    Linda Adler-Kassner
    5.0 out of 5 stars 1
    Paperback
    $23.59 Prime
  6. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
    Sherry Turkle
    4.4 out of 5 stars 93
    Hardcover
    $17.25 Prime
Next

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
The latest book club pick from Oprah
"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead is a magnificent novel chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. See more

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (February 6, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0199315760
  • ISBN-13: 978-0199315765
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 1.1 x 6.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe Distracted Reader
By takingadayoff TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on January 30, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition
I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book as much as this while disagreeing with practically everything the author said. In Words Onscreen linguistics professor Naomi Baron details her concerns about the effect that digital devices are having on reading and learning. One of her arguments is that reading a book deeply, with no distractions, enables you to have a conversation with the author, which is less likely when the internet is only a finger swipe away. I read Words Onscreen on an iPad with an internet connection and can assure Professor Baron that I had many conversations with her as I read the book.

Baron concedes that certain kinds of reading are better for onscreen reading than others. Newspapers and airport novels that are read once and discarded fit into that category. But she thinks that textbooks and literature require more concentration -- concentration that is undermined when reading pixels rather than ink on paper. She cites many studies and cites many of her students in their preference for paper over screens.

In making her case, Baron throws every possible argument against digital reading, not just the distraction argument. You see this in some court cases, where there is an airtight case for manslaughter, but the prosecution goes for murder one, assault, illegal possession of a weapon, and tax evasion. The defense picks away at the weak edges of the case, and the jury acquits because they now have doubts about the whole case.

So we get charts and statistics, but we also get the serendipity of browsing in a bookstore, the smell of the book, the ability to collect and lend books, and have them autographed. I'm sure we've all been down the rabbit-hole of an internet search and that can be as serendipitous as a bookstore browse.Read more ›
Comment 29 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
2.0 out of 5 starsAn engaging but problematic analysis of e-reading
By Zach on April 29, 2015
Format: Hardcover
While this book is an interesting exploration of a knotty, controversial topic, I think there is a deep flaw with Baron's argument. In essence, her study, and much of the research she cites, boils down to variants on the question, "Do you prefer vanilla or chocolate ice cream?"

If you ask me, I'm going to answer "Vanilla" 100% of the time. But if, say, I'm someone who doesn't have access to vanilla, it doesn't mean I won't still happily accept chocolate. There is inherent bias in posing the question as an "either/or" between the two flavors, as it prods me to pay more attention to what I like and dislike about them.

The same bias afflicts the oft-posed question, "Do you prefer print or electronic reading?" As Baron notes, there is indeed much evidence showing that students will tend to answer "print" when asked this question. When asked to elaborate, they will tend to give rationalizations for their choice - a choice that was forced upon them by an overly restrictive binary dichotomy. Ironically, there is much other evidence cited by Baron which would suggest that the picture is much murkier. She notes that students in different cultures have different takes on the digital/print distinction. Amongst anectodal evidence, we encounter occasional comments from people who strongly feel that reading online has no negative effects on their ability to concentrate on sustained reading.

Another flaw in the author's research is that much of it relies on self-reporting. When you ask a subject whether they think they remember more with print or with digital, a question that is already vague (and afflicted with the false dichotomy) becomes prone to hazy rationalizations and imaginings.Read more ›
Comment 12 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA great read, very informative
By Spencer on February 15, 2015
Format: Hardcover
The question Baron picks up in the volume is whether “digital reading is reshaping our understanding of what it means to read.” (xii) She goes on to argue “that digital reading is fine for many short pieces or light content we don’t intend to analyze or reread.” (xii) Her conclusion is that digital reading is here to stay, but so is reading in print. Each has a niche in the publishing world and the academic world. Thus the future is a complementary coexistence rather than extinction of one or the other.

Baron begins with a state of the book address, where she lays out the history of the rise of the e-book and the shift in print publishing. She then provides a history of reading that will make a lover of reading swoon. This chapter is really worth the price of the book. In the third chapter she discusses the impact that e-reading is having on writing styles, where media are moving to punchier, shorter chunks. (This is why my blog is almost never longer than 800 words.) This is a chapter that is historiographic, again, very enjoyable for one who loves reading.
In Chapter Four Baron explains the attraction to reading onscreen, for those that appreciate it. She is fair in presenting the strongest arguments for that form of reading. Still she notes that e-books and e-readers may not be as green as claimed, particularly since most people don’t simply dispose of their hard copy books, but often resell them, lend them, and pass them down. She also notes that one does not really own an e-book, but is merely accessing its information. The more significant concern she notes is that retention in onscreen reading tends to be lower. Still, she find strengths of the medium and promotes them.

What comes of the discussion is that onscreen reading is more suitable for one-off reading.Read more ›
Comment 11 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsI am not alone in my inability to focus and retain what I read on a...

I checked this book out from my local library.

E reading is the wave of the future. If you don't own a Kindle, or other device to voraciously read you are doing it all... Read more

Published 4 months ago by quietgirl255
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great read!

Published 7 months ago by Michelle Torrise
5.0 out of 5 starsHighly recommend.

Really interesting book. Highly recommend.

Published 11 months ago by Olivia
4.0 out of 5 starsNot All I'd Hoped For

Although it treats a very important subject, this book is rather tedious to read. It's organized into dozens of tiny mini-chapters, and thus it seems to stop and start and stop and... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Jim Bklyn
4.0 out of 5 starsIf you think reading is serious business

The book presents informed insights not only about the future of reading, but also about its present and past. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Sarah Schrire
2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointed

I was excited to read this book, as titles like this promise to keep me current on recent research and trends in reading behavior and preferences. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Andrew Kent
2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointing. The book is a biased, anecdotal view ...

Disappointing. The book is a biased, anecdotal view of hard copy books versus electronic reader devices. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsWill "e-reading" contribute to a decline in actual, in-depth Reading?

I reviewed a digital ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. No fees were exchanged. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Mallory Heart Reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: literature, historical linguistics