Reading today is typically silent – whether reading a book in a library or reading Click here for more about the episode...The sounds of medieval books (with Andrew Albin)By How To Read

When you think about historical reenactment, you probably think about reenacting Civil War battles or Click here for more about the episode...Reenacting the past (with Catherine Grant)By How To Read

We may think of reading and writing as opposite activities, but there’s a long history Click here for more about the episode...The history of homemade books (with Deidre Lynch)By The HTR team

In the Bible, the Apocalypse is the end of the world as we know it, Click here for more about the episode...Why apocalypse isn’t all bad (with Jennifer M. Wilks)By How To Read

Music can tell stories in a variety of ways: operas and musicals have characters and Click here for more about the episode...Musical storytelling with repurposed texts (with Randall Eng)By How To Read

During the Cold War, the US and Chinese governments didn’t drop bombs on each other, Click here for more about the episode...The hidden politics of translation (with Lamyu Maria Bo)By How To Read

A one-sided relationship is a bad relationship, right? Not necessarily, says Elaine Auyoung. She’s interested Click here for more about the episode...One-sided relationships (with Elaine Auyoung)By How To Read

What we notice about someone else’s language is less to do with language itself than Click here for more about the episode...Language and injustice in the classroom (with Nelson Flores)By How To Read

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for months, years or even a lifetime, and doctors Click here for more about the episode...Understanding chronic pain (with Travis Chi Wing Lau)By How To Read

You may have noticed that music has been sounding more chilled out recently, with softer Click here for more about the episode...The politics of chill (with Robin James)By How To Read

The classic image of a reader is someone alone with their eyes on a book, Click here for more about the episode...Communities of readers (with Janice Radway)By How To Read

When you picture a cheerleader, you probably imagine a woman. But in the early twentieth Click here for more about the episode...Cheerleading and the history of sport (with Frank Guridy)By How To Read

Do you want to live a predictable life? Can great art ever be predictable? Most Click here for more about the episode...Predictability in life and art (with Caroline Levine)By How To Read

Why do we click with some works of art and not others? Why does it Click here for more about the episode...Why we click with art (with Rita Felski)By How To Read

When you think of an expert or specialist, you might picture a scientist with a Click here for more about the episode...The value of local knowledge (with Paige West)By How To Read

What’s happened to reading during the COVID-19 pandemic? Some people are too busy or stressed Click here for more about the episode...Readers under lockdown (with Leah Price)By How To Read

Images of protest have a visceral power to grab our attention. Colin Leach has been Click here for more about the episode...Images of protests (with Colin Wayne Leach)By How To Read

Milan, Olivia and Colby talk about season 4, the challenges of recording remotely and why… Click here for more about the episode...Season 4 trailerBy How To Read

The world doesn’t revolve around you! Many children, and plenty of adults too, have heard Click here for more about the episode...How (not) to read arrogantly (with Paula Moya)By How To Read

Many people today surround themselves with crystals, whether for healing properties or as part of Click here for more about the episode...The appeal of crystals through the ages (with Marisa Galvez)By How To Read

We usually don’t pay much attention to pauses in language – it’s easy to assume Click here for more about the episode...Pauses in Japanese and American literature (with Andrew Leong)By How To Read

Atmospheres are both insubstantial and yet very palpable – for example, think about tension that Click here for more about the episode...Atmospheres in literature and life (with Dora Zhang)By How To Read

Spectacular dance sequences are one of the most recognizable elements of Indian cinema, and female Click here for more about the episode...Dancing stars in Indian cinema (with Usha Iyer)By How To Read

It’s difficult to maintain attention when surrounded by distractions. Even if we’re just trying to Click here for more about the episode...Poetry, prayer and paying attention (with David Marno)By How To Read

For many people, binge-watching is a guilty pleasure. In the Golden Age of Television, we Click here for more about the episode...The art of bingeing (with Michaela Bronstein)By How To Read

It’s hard to find time for undistracted reading, and it’s easy to blame modern developments Click here for more about the episode...Not having time to read (with Christina Lupton)By How To Read

There’s a negative stereotype of teenage readers as naively absorbed in their favourite books – Click here for more about the episode...Why it’s good to read like a teenager (with Jill Richards)By How To Read

Life experiences can transform us in many ways, and Laurie Paul wants us to appreciate Click here for more about the episode...How art can transform us (with Laurie Paul)By How To Read

We tend to have a visceral response to someone we think is dirty. But Stephanie Click here for more about the episode...The idea of dirtiness (with Stephanie Newell)By How To Read

After we finish reading a book, our memories of it quickly fade and can even Click here for more about the episode...What we remember after reading (with Andrew Elfenbein)By How To Read

It might seem obvious that it’s good to read in ways that are literary, critical Click here for more about the episode...Policing reading in colonial Egypt (with Michael Allan)By How To Read

Many poems speak to a “you” who is not you the reader. And when a Click here for more about the episode...Weird ways poems address their readers (with Jonathan Culler)By How To Read

What do we want when we revisit a beloved story? Sarah Chihaya suggests we’re drawn Click here for more about the episode...Remakes, sequels and other story expansions (with Sarah Chihaya)By How To Read

When we think about the generation before us, we might feel that their cultural touchstones Click here for more about the episode...How illustrations reshaped the Romantic legacy (with Tom Mole)By How To Read

The basic story of Adam and Eve is that Eve was tempted by a serpent, Click here for more about the episode...Why Eve got blamed (with Stephen Greenblatt)By How To Read

Some academics think that reading a book just to identify with a character is self-centred Click here for more about the episode...Identifying with characters (with Merve Emre)By How To Read

We tend to think of literature as something that’s written down. But Martin Puchner is Click here for more about the episode...Literature from speech to writing and back (with Martin Puchner)By How To Read

Pick up a novel today, and it’s almost guaranteed to be divided up into chapters. Click here for more about the episode...The history of the chapter (with Nicholas Dames)By How To Read

You might not think writing style matters in philosophy. But Kwame Anthony Appiah – a Click here for more about the episode...How to read philosophy (with Kwame Anthony Appiah)By How To Read

A utopia presents an ideal world that has overcome the problems of the present. For Click here for more about the episode...Philadelphia’s utopian roots (with Bethany Wiggin)By How To Read

What connects Langston Hughes to Hong Kong, Malcolm X to Mecca, and Syrian merchants to the 9/11 memorial? In this episode, English professor Wai Chee Dimock shows us how to read quintessentially American writers from an international perspective. From this angle, major American concerns like race and money start to look a little different. Click h…

The idea of putting spaces between written words didn’t develop until thousands of years after Click here for more about the episode...The long history of reading aloud (with Roger Chartier)By How To Read

During the Renaissance, a writer could be imprisoned just for claiming that a husband beating Click here for more about the episode...The politics of disobedient wives (with Julie Crawford)By How To Read

What happens when we apply today’s ideas about social networks back onto literature of the Click here for more about the episode...Social networks in novels (with Paul Saint-Amour)By How To Read

Our guest Heather Love is out to convince us of the value of description — Click here for more about the episode...Why description matters (with Heather Love)By How To Read

We live in a world with a long history of atrocity — from the colonization Click here for more about the episode...Atrocity, time, and the novel (with Bruce Robbins)By How To Read

Sometimes it pays to zoom in. Today, we focus on some opening sentences which reward close Click here for more about the episode...Intriguing opening sentences (with Jenny Davidson)By How to Read