On Reading

We read for all sorts of reasons: pleasure, education, escapism, intellectual stimulation. The act of reading is a private, personal one that we love to share with our friends and families. Reading and books form a world rich in detail, memory and emotion.


In On Reading, Robert McCrum draws together his Observer columns to reflect on what reading brings us, how to best go about it and how what we read is shifting and changing as new technologies open up new ways of telling stories.


A fascinating exploration of our favourite pastime, On Reading is a thought-provoking short read that asks, amongst other things, how we choose books, what our reading says about us, and what the effects of reading are on our brains and language.


On Reading is the companion volume to Robert McCrum On Authors and On Writing.