Four books, one project: understanding what happens when a human brain learns to read. Where to start:
Proust and the Squid (2007) — the breakout book, in 15 translations: how humans invented reading, how each child’s brain learns it, and what happens in dyslexia. Start here for the full foundation.
Reader, Come Home (2018) — nine letters on what digital culture does to the deep-reading brain, and how to raise “biliterate” children. Princeton’s Pre-read for 2026. Start here if screens are what brought you.
Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century (2016, with Stephanie Gottwald) — the neuroscience meets the global literacy crisis. Start here if literacy-as-justice is your angle.
Dyslexia, Fluency, and the Brain (2001, editor) — the research volume that made fluency a field of its own. For specialists.
Find them all at maryannewolf.com.
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