## Metadata - Author: [[James Marriott]] - Full Title:: The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-of-the-post-literate-society-aa1?r=74c8x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true - Read date:: [[2026-01-03]] ## Highlights > *What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book because there would be no one who wanted to read one.* > *— Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death* ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke1tjpjsbhsapex77g5ds10c)) ## New highlights added [[2026-01-03]] > The world of print is orderly, logical and rational. In books, knowledge is classified, comprehended, connected and put in its place. Books make arguments, propose theses, develop ideas. “To engage with the written word”, the media theorist Neil Postman wrote, “means to follow a line of thought, which requires considerable powers of classifying, inference-making and reasoning.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke299fe4q3j0h04t12kz982d)) And empathy > Reading is [associated with a number of cognitive](https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/reading-books-brain-chemistry.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com) benefits including improved memory and attention span, better analytical thinking, improved verbal fluency, and [lower rates of cognitive decline in later life](https://www.verywellhealth.com/benefits-of-reading-8723145?utm_source=chatgpt.com). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke2b8e78thej78vk13eymcme)) > As Walter Ong writes in his book *Orality and Literacy*, **certain kinds of complex and logical thinking simply cannot be achieved without reading and writing.** It is virtually impossible to develop a detailed and logical argument in spontaneous speech — you would get lost, lose your thread, contradict yourself, and confuse your audience trying to re-phrase ineptly expressed points. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke2bafwmjqtm65rbx27tjne4))