Language at the speed of sight : how we read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it / Mark Seidenberg.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Reading, writing, and speech -- 1. The problem and the paradox -- 2. Visible language -- 3. Writing: it's all Mesopotamian cuneiform to me -- How we read -- 4. The eyes have it -- 5. F u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n rdng rsch -- 6. Becoming a reader -- 7. Reading: the eternal triangle -- 8. Dyslexia and its discontents -- 9. Brain bases of reading -- The educational challenges -- 10. How well does America read? -- 11. The two cultures of science and education -- 12. Reading the future.

"The way we teach reading is not working, and it cannot continue. We have largely abandoned phones-based reading instruction, despite research that supports its importance for word recognition. Rather than treating Black English as a valid dialect and recognizing that speaking one dialect can impact the ability to learn to read in another, teachers simply dismiss it as “incorrect English.” And while we press children to develop large vocabularies because we think being a good reader means knowing more words, studies have found that a large vocabulary is only an indication of better pattern recognition. Understanding the science of reading is more important than ever–for us, and for our children. Seidenberg helps us do so by drawing on cutting-edge research in machine learning, linguistics, and early childhood development. Language at the Speed of Sight offers an erudite and scathing examination of this most human of activities, and concrete proposals for how our society can produce better readers."--Publisher's website.