Rhetorical situation

Sender

The sender of the podcast “The Importance of Reading Books” is Paul Fairfield, a Professor of Philosophy at Queens’ University in Kingston, Canada.

In the podcast, Fairfield does not describe his current situation, but mentions his teenage years, when he first connected with books in his hometown’s bookstore: 

There was the stuff I was supposed to be learning in school, and then there was this: These books and these writers. School didn’t inspire me, but those books did. They lit a fire in a teenager that would grow for decades. (ll. 5-7)

This episode portrays Fairfield as a curious teenager, who became passionate about books. Fairfield comes across as knowledgeable and concerned with the development of present-day generations. His concern with the future is also revealed at the end of the podcast: “As on...