Books by David R. (University of Toronto) Olson

This engaging book focuses on the cognitive uses of literacy for thinking and reasoning. Reading and writing provide consciousness of aspects of language that are implicit and unconscious in speech. This consciousness of language is essential not only to literacy but also to the formation of systematic thought and rationality.

For well over a century educational reformers have looked for a breakthrough in the sciences of psychology and pedagogy that would dramatically improve the effectiveness of schooling. This book shows why such an ambition is an illusion.