“People in this country have had enough of experts.” This was apparently an acceptable rejoinder to the arguments put forth against Brexit by financial experts. As it turns out, the experts were not just being niggardly, little quibblers when they questioned the promises of immigration cuts and 350 million pound EU savings for National Health Service (NHS). This situation was however a rarity; experts are rarely lucky enough to be able to avail of such quick redemption. Anti-intellectualism  UK is not the only country to fall prey to deception by politicians. Across the world, in nation after...

If you are a reader and a book-lover, the world can seem like a pretty bleak place right now. There’s not much good news coming in and all studies point to a doomsday looming over us all. When Giants fall And when the leading lights fall prey to the epidemic, it all begins to seem quite hopeless. Maryanne Wolf, an expert on the science of reading, is dismayed that she has, “begun to read more to be informed than to be immersed. I read too fast to comprehend deeper levels because I have lost cognitive patience.” Acclaimed writer, Nicholas Carr, concludes that use of digital media has “chipped...

“We are not only what we read,” says the developmental psychologist, Maryanne Wolf, “We are how we read.”  She made this statement with reference to Deep Reading – the sustained and undistracted reading of a book. In fact, her argument is that deep reading is indistinguishable from deep thinking. It’s certainly something to ponder on in the age of micro attention spans. Attention Span of a Goldfish No longer can this phrase be used as an idiom. The day of reckoning is here. The average human attention span has dropped to 8 seconds, barely distinguishable from that of goldfish which are believed...