Composition

The podcast “The Importance of Reading Books” by Paul Fairfield begins with the rhetorical question “Does anyone read books anymore?”. This beginning sparks curiosity and makes the audience interested in Fairfield’s argumentation, especially combined with the title of the podcast. The title also suggests that Fairfield’s intention is to present some of the reasons why reading books is still important today. The question is followed by an anecdote describing Fairfield’s relationship to books in his teenage years.

The middle of the podcast is introduced by another rhetorical question – “What about today?” (l. 14) – and mainly focuses on the effects of books and screen technology on the human mind. Fairfield uses a comparison between the two to show that the habit of reading is directly associated with the development of critical thinking, while the h...