Reading and the brain: what the science of reading tells us about why books change us

Reading isn’t an instinct; it’s a cultural invention that my brain learns by repurposing older systems for vision, language, attention, and memory. That’s what makes reading and the brain such a compelling topic: the act of becoming a fluent reader measurably reshapes how efficiently these systems work together. The science of reading helps explain why fluency can feel like effortlessness, why…