In the first podcast episode, “How to read,” The Future of Skills and Story of Books open the book club discussion by looking at the main challenge for readers today: the decline of literacy and comprehension skills due to digital distractions.

In the second episode, “Preparing our minds for reading,” we move on to discussing the first steps to recover our attention as readers. Nadya Birca, Salina Christmas and Zarina Holmes offer their perspectives as an anthropologist, a designer and authors on available solutions to prepare the mind for deep engagement.

They also touch on “Preserving Content vs. Ethics,” expressing their concern over AI companies purchasing and destroying rare books to train models, arguing that this practice severs the human experience from the text.

Designer Zarina Holmes highlights the importance of “third spaces” – like quiet bookstores or cafes – to facilitate focus. She draws on examples from luxury concept bookstores in East Asia, such as Eslite (Taiwan), Tsutaya Books and Books Kinokuniya (Japan).

Anthropologist Salina Christmas argues that reading is a form of cognitive labour that competes with other habits like social media and streaming services, requiring intentional design to maintain.

Nadya Birca introduces Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory, which suggests that natural environments and “soft fascination” can help reset our focus before we attempt to read, rather than forcing concentration.

The hosts advocate for smaller, tactile formats like zines or poetry books for those who struggle with short attention spans. Story of Books shows examples from the KL Zine Etc Festival, where publishers from Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Hong Kong showcased the latest directions in zine publishing.

In the last segment, “Courage in Literature,” the hosts highlight books that explore courage, including personal stories and diverse perspectives, such as Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, Ku Syafiq’s Tombo and Rahmah Pauzi’s There Is Nothing Objective About This Documentary Film.

Catch the book club clips on our YouTube Shorts. Don’t forget to subscribe.
https://www.youtube.com/@StoryOfBooksChannel/shorts

The Future of Skills podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFutureofSkills