My mind is blowing; I just finished the reading (for now on, I have to be careful using this word) "What We See When We Read" by Peter Mendelsund. I want to write this review while this strange sensation is fresh; honestly, I don’t know what happened while my eyes were running thru the pages. The book is a fascinating exploration of the inner workings of the reader's imagination and how it shapes the way we perceive literature. The author argues that reading is not simply a matter of decoding words on a page but rather a creative act in which the reader actively constructs meaning from the text. Through a combination of literary examples, art, and cognitive science, Mendelsund delves into the complex process of reading and offers unique insights that will be valuable to anyone who wants to understand better how we engage with literature. One of the key takeaways from the book is that reading is an act of imagination. Mendelsund argues that when we read, our minds are not passively receiving information but actively constructing meaning from the text. He explains that the reader's imagination creates the images, characters, and settings we perceive while reading. This means our mental imagery when we read is not a photographic reproduction of the text but a constructed image. The author also points out that this process is not limited to visual imagery but includes other senses, such as sound, touch, and smell.
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My mind is blowing; I just finished the reading (for now on, I have to be careful using this word) "What We See When We Read" by Peter Mendelsund. I want to write this review while this strange sensation is fresh; honestly, I don’t know what happened while my eyes were running thru the pages. The book is a fascinating exploration of the inner workings of the reader's imagination and how it shapes the way we perceive literature. The author argues that reading is not simply a matter of decoding words on a page but rather a creative act in which the reader actively constructs meaning from the text. Through a combination of literary examples, art, and cognitive science, Mendelsund delves into the complex process of reading and offers unique insights that will be valuable to anyone who wants to understand better how we engage with literature. One of the key takeaways from the book is that reading is an act of imagination. Mendelsund argues that when we read, our minds are not passively receiving information but actively constructing meaning from the text. He explains that the reader's imagination creates the images, characters, and settings we perceive while reading. This means our mental imagery when we read is not a photographic reproduction of the text but a constructed image. The author also points out that this process is not limited to visual imagery but includes other senses, such as sound, touch, and smell.