“

Empathy is a cornerstone of human behavior and has long been considered innate. A forthcoming study, however, challenges this assumption by demonstrating that empathy levels have been declining over the past 30 years. The research, led by Sara H. Konrath of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published online in August in Personality and Social Psychology Review, found that college students’ self-reported empathy has declined since 1980, with an especially steep drop in the past 10 years. To make matters worse, during this same period students’ self-reported narcissism has reached new heights, according to research by Jean M. Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University.

[…]

The types of information we consume have also shifted in recent decades; specifically, Americans have abandoned reading in droves. The number of adults who read literature for pleasure sank below 50 percent for the first time ever in the past 10 years, with the decrease occurring most sharply among college-age adults. And reading may be linked to empathy. In a study published earlier this year psychologist Raymond A. Mar of York University in Toronto and others demonstrated that the number of stories preschoolers read predicts their ability to understand the emotions of others. Mar has also shown that adults who read less fiction report themselves to be less empathic.

”

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What, Me Care?: Scientific American (via shorterexcerpts)

I think there’s a lot of evidence, from interviews and also in the text, that dfw felt like his enormous talent, which he was undoubtedly aware of, was put to best use opening a space for empathy. That fiction was supposed to, and at its best does, make us kinder. It makes sense. This makes sense.

(via shorterexcerpts)

  10:20 am  |   December 30 2010   |  11 notes  

This is is kind of a weird process, but I know there’s some interest so I’ll clarify a little. You go here, then there are options just like on your main dash in a drop box (hit the down arrow for the menu) for text, photo, link, quote, and video posts. You write out a post just like you would for your own blog and then check a little checkbox saying you accept the terms of submission and hit submit. It shows up in my message box like a private message, and it allows me to edit and publish. I will edit your post only to add a (submitted by yourbloghere) and publish it as soon as I see it. If you want to try out a test submission, just write “test” and I’ll send you a PM letting you know if it worked rather than publishing it. 

  12:50 pm  |   December 28 2010   |  1 note  

“Kekuléan” is not a type of knot. To Hal, the knot he is focusing on resembles the self-consuming, annular shape of the snake that inspired August Kekulé’s discovery of benzene’s molecular structure. August Kekule (1829-1896), a renowned German organic chemist, was the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure. His most famous work, the discovery of benzene molecule’s structure, is said to be inspired by a dream. “Kekulé’s Dream” was that of a self-devouring snake, the shape of which he used to describe the benzene ring. Hal’s intense focus on this annular, or ring-like, part of the tie is the first reference to annular shapes.”

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Pages 3-27 - David Foster Wallace Wiki : Infinite Jest

For anyone else involved in “Infinite Winter” I highly, highly, highly (redundancy sic) recommend the IJ Wiki’s annotations.

(via shorterexcerpts)

(via shorterexcerpts)

  12:44 pm  |   December 28 2010   |  5 notes  

“(note for late 20s non graduate student readers: Facebook is MySpace, but only for folks with valid college email addresses.)”

— shorterexcerpts first blogged about re-reading IJ (on his third go through) in 2006. Marvelous.

  4:21 pm  |   December 27 2010   |  3 notes  

“I’m an O.E.D. man, Doctor. If that’s what you are. Are you a doctor? Do you have a doctorate? Most people like to put their diplomas up, I notice, if they have credentials. And Webster’s Seventh isn’t even up-to-date. Webster’s Eighth amends to “one who converses with much enthusiasm.”

— My favorite quote thus far. I am actually on pace. (via kevinspectro)

  5:35 pm  |   December 24 2010   |  3 notes  

lalalimonada-deactivated2010122 asked: For my fellow Kindle readers: There's another list of page numbers with corresponding percentages here:
http://infinitesummer.org/index
It's not quite as good as the other list because it only has percents and not locations, but at 12 pages/day, it's broken down closer to our reading plan.

  12:47 pm  |   December 24 2010  

“I’ve never even skied.” (p. 30)

This phrase of protest has always struck me as near perfect. To experience the world of skiing—its lifts, its slopes, its ridiculous fashions, its hot chocolate from its lodges, its patrons—is, as I think Hal correctly assumes, a weird sort of coming-of-age, no matter how old you are. A loss of innocence.

I have skied, and I always feel embarrassed about it when reading this line.

(submitted by qed)

  11:28 am  |   December 24 2010   |  2 notes  

“The integrity of my sleep has been forever compromised, sir.”

— My absolute favorite sentence from today’s section (p.15)

  8:15 pm  |   December 21 2010   |  1 note  

shorterexcerpts:

All 189 “scenes” in the novel, along with page #s and the primary “year” they take place in (plus synopses of each scene.)

Shorterexcerpts is going to make me keep logging in and out for the next 13 weeks. I just know it.

(thanks!!)

  10:20 am  |   December 20 2010   |  9 notes  

So lalalimonada asked, and I’m answering in a text post in case anyone wants to reblog, about reading IJ on a Kindle. First reaction: Kindle editions don’t have page numbers? That sucks. I hope they have a way for you to do footnotes easily.

I actually am not sure how to do 10 pages/day that way, but here’s a list of key phrases and corresponding page numbers. If you do those steps you can approximate where we are—I think the infinite summer plan does 2 checkins/wk rather than a general guideline of 10 pages/day, but both come out to 13 weeks.

  10:16 am  |   December 20 2010   |  3 notes