Clay tablets! Printing presses! Old timey audio books! Speed reading strategies! Attention spans! Dyslexia history! Literacy campaigns! Dr. Adrian Johns is an historian, professor, and author of the book “The Science of Reading” and we have a nice mellow chat about when humans started to “read,” what that means, being Hooked on Phonics, Dick, Jane, character languages, audiobooks, e-readers, school segregation, literacy rates, and how long we can focus at a time. He literally wrote the book on it. Visit Dr. Adrian Johns’ faculty bio at University of ChicagoShop Dr. Johns’ books including The Science of Reading: Information, Media, and Mind in Modern America (2023) and The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making (1998)A donation went to 826LA.org and Glioblastoma Research OrganizationMore episode sources and linksSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesOther episodes you may enjoy: Anthropodermic Biocodicology (HUMAN LEATHER BOOKS), Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT), Curiology (EMOJI), Attention Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD), Witchology (WITCHES & WITCHCRAFT), Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?), Abstract Mathemetology (UH, IS MATH REAL?), Pedagogology (SCIENCE COMMUNICATION) with Bill NyeSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, stickers, totes!Follow @Ologies on Twitter and InstagramFollow @AlieWard on Twitter and InstagramEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio ProductionsTranscripts by Emily White of The WordaryWebsite by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn