Letters: The many uses of literature

Re “Another use for literature,” Opinion, Dec. 29

Robert Sapolsky’s fine essay on the value of literature pinpoints the tragedy of our time: the demise of the attention span.

As long as one reads simply to find out what happens, then one barrels through the pages and skips the “boring” descriptions and commentary. It takes energy, patience and focus to read good literature, but as the old adage says, “You get out what you put in.”

Taking time to enjoy reading means that the “how” is as important as the “what”: character development, time and place, meaning and a depth of feeling missing from “easy” fiction.

The pat and simplistic plots of sitcoms and romantic comedies have weakened the mental muscles required for staying with a story and appreciating the more subtle elements of emotion and intention.

Eileen Flaxman

Stevenson Ranch

At the close of his article on the importance of reading literature for its enhancement of our “theory-of-mind” skills, Sapolsky notes, “And even more important, it’s good to keep in mind [the importance of such skills] the next time a financial crisis threatens to gut a school’s lit program.”

The threat to literature in education comes not from any financial crisis, but from the current implementation of the Common Core curriculum, which calls for a sharp reduction of literature in public education in favor of informational text.

Al Austin

West Hills

ALSO:

Letters: California’s pension problems

Letters: Why email is a poor substitute

Letters: Colleges, recruiters and money