[A Sip of Books] Eyes Vulnerable to Digital Temptation... Rising Attention on "Auditory Reading"

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the essence of an entire book, while others immediately resonate with readers and create a point of connection with the book. Here, we present meaningful sentences excerpted from books.

Humanity has been passing down stories orally since before the advent of writing. Listening came before seeing.

The lingering echoes of old tales heard while leaning on a grandmother’s knee in childhood often become lifelong cherished memories. In fact, many intellectuals have emphasized the value of auditory reading. The ancient philosopher Socrates is said to have warned that excessive reliance on writing could weaken memory and critical thinking, and thus he stressed the power of dialogue and spoken words. In this regard, the author emphasizes that listening to books is not merely a supplementary method, but one of the essential ways of learning. The author asserts that the process of listening to books, moving to reading with the eyes, and then writing reviews enables “reading that can be applied in real life.” The author, who joined a newspaper company in 1991 and later became the publisher of a daily economic newspaper, has launched the “Hamanhacheon Movement” (walking 10,000 steps a day and writing 1,000 characters a day) in response to smartphone addiction, promoting a brain health campaign for the era of centenarians. The author also practices writing one book review per week on social media, aiming to spread a culture of reading.

This book discusses how to develop a habit of engaging in productive activities such as reading, instead of wasting time meaninglessly on a smartphone, by using your ears instead of your eyes, which are more vulnerable to digital temptations. (Page 9)

Our brains constantly consider opportunity costs when making choices, and I believe reading is an activity with particularly high opportunity costs. When we encounter a book at a bookstore or library, we quickly calculate whether it will be enjoyable and whether investing our time will be worthwhile. If we are not convinced of its entertainment value or practical usefulness, we hesitate and often put the book down. (Page 24)

While struggling to break free from smartphone addiction, I happened to discover a new world of reading through listening. To liberate my eyes, which had become slaves to screens, I began using my ears as a new channel of communication. I named this new method of reading through the ears “auditory reading.” Since learning to read, I had always read books with my eyes?a method I call “visual reading.” (Page 38)

We learn language by listening. The first thing a child encounters after birth is sound. Before children learn letters, parents read books aloud and tell stories, teaching them how to communicate with the world. “Acquiring information through the ears” is the first learning method humans experience. Children begin to understand language through sounds before they learn letters. While decoding written text is an acquired skill, listening is an innate ability. (Page 45)

Long before inventing writing, humanity passed down stories orally. Nearly all knowledge?myth, history, religion, ethics?was transmitted by word of mouth and received by the ear. While civilization and written records have existed for only a few thousand years, oral culture has been a channel of knowledge for much longer. The ancient philosopher Socrates is also famous for expressing concerns about writing. He believed that reliance on the written word could weaken memory and critical thinking, and he trusted in the power of living dialogue and speech. This suggests that listening and understanding through the ears is not just a supplementary method, but in fact a fundamental way of learning. (Page 46)

After first encountering a book through listening, selecting an impressive chapter to read closely with the eyes, and then clipping and summarizing the content, I accumulate the essence of the book as my own review content. Through this process, a book becomes more than just “something I read”?it becomes an “asset I can use.” (Page 51)

The loosely grasped flow of a book experienced through listening stimulated my brain’s curiosity and naturally led to a desire to read more with my eyes. If auditory reading was the “gateway to befriending books,” visual reading became the “inner space for organizing thoughts.” This back-and-forth between the ears and eyes transformed reading from a forced act of spending time and concentration into something that naturally blends into the flow of daily life. (Page 63)

Completing a difficult classic is a challenge for anyone. At St. John’s College, the curriculum was designed by selecting specific passages from each original text, taking into account students’ basic knowledge and differences in knowledge across fields. Looking back, most of the textbooks my professors used in my university major classes were also edited compilations from various books or papers. This is similar to how St. John’s College presents selected excerpts in its great books curriculum. In this way, excerpt reading is a method of reading instruction that humanity has devised and used for a long time to pass on knowledge. (Page 169)

Self-development is like fitness. Just as you need to actually train, not just read theory books, to build muscle, practical self-development also requires a repeatable “training routine.” That method is a modular routine based on excerpt reading. (Page 177)

Reading Habits That Rejuvenate the Brain: Auditory Reading | Written by Woo Byunghyun | Good Habit Research Institute | 194 pages | 17,500 won