Neurochemical qualities of reading

Woman in a yellow sweatshirt holding up eyeglasses.
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What Happens When We Read: The Mind’s Eye and How it Works

ByAnnie Weatherwax

Reading is a cognitive experience and written language can elicit in the brain an array of sensory perceptions. A description of an apple pie once made me put the book down so I could bask in its warm smell. But what the brain does most readily is see. It’s the mind’s “eye” that engages when…

Allen Ginsberg
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Reading as Intoxicant, Part I: Neurochemical Qualities of the Modern Manic Page Peeler

ByMatthew Burnside

Richard Wright once wrote that reading is like a drug. Countless other authors have written some variation of that same assertion. If you’ve ever found yourself crushed in a corner weeping like a crazy person because the end of your latest literary fixation was fast coming to a close, or buying more books than you…