Dwight Macdonald Reading And Thought Summary

In the article “Reading and Thought” by Dwight MacDonald he advocates how printed readings such as the Time Magazine is “not functional” and irrelevant to an individual. According to his statements readers skim or only read parts of the Time Magazine due to the fact that most readings are long. Although Macdonald is partially right about this claim, some online articles, magazines, and newspapers are still practical and contain useful information on various topics. Macdonald only emphasis printed readings like Times and New York Times however he doesn’t mention other companies that people also read. Not all printed readings are unnecessary but instead contain relevant information to readers like topics based on health, natural disasters, politics, and nature. Macdonald discusses how people read just because it’s a “duty” or “compulsion” but there are people who read articles or newspaper not because they feel like it’s their obligation but because it’s their interest or desire. For example, I recall myself reading an article about Zumba dancing and I was really engaged into it. The article discussed how there’s people who have been diagnosed with high cholesterol or diabetes and had trouble losing weight because running a treadmill or simply going to the gym is something not as appealing as dancing to one of your favorite pop songs. The article

In some occasions I even find myself falling asleep to some boring readings because they’re ancient readings from the 1800s. Readers read to practice their reading skills though Macdonald asserts that “even this is a doubtful advantage”. People cannot improve their reading if they just flick through a book or if they can’t comprehend a piece from Shakespeare. As much as Macdonald is wrong of most of the statements he says, some of them are