--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa…" description: "\"“In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke University professor Katherine Hayles confessed, “I can’t get my students to read whole books anymo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg" --- # In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke… ![“In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke University professor Katherine Hayles confessed, “I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore.”10 Hayles teaches English; the students she’s talking about are students of literature.” quote by Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg) > ““In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke University professor Katherine Hayles confessed, “I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore.”10 Hayles teaches English; the students she’s talking about are students of literature.”” [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The professor laments that students no longer engage with full-length books, indicating a shift toward shorter, fragmented reading habits. **In simple terms:** Students avoid reading whole books. Key Takeaway Encourage deep, sustained reading. Themes education technology attention span Mood concerned reflective Type analytical commentary When to use this quote - classroom curricula - library programs - student study habits Key Concepts digital distraction literacy decline Questions to Reflect On - What factors drive shorter reading habits? - How can educators foster longer engagement? A Different Perspective The trend may reflect broader changes in information consumption, not just student laziness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Duke university](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duke-university/) ## Related quotes > [A surprising number of people - including many students of literature - will tell you they haven't really lived in a book since they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/a-surprising-number-of-people-including-many-students-of-literature-2/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) > [“I would not have majored in English and gone on to teach literature had I not been able to construct a counterargument about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-rose-o-reilley/i-would-not-have-majored-in-english-and-gone-on-to-teach-literature/) [Mary Rose O'Reilley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-rose-o-reilley/) > [“That one can understand The Waste Land without even trying is consoling news for all students of literature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/that-one-can-understand-the-waste-land-without-even-trying-is/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [A surprising number of people - including many students of literature - will tell you they haven't really lived in a book since they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/a-surprising-number-of-people-including-many-students-of-literature/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) > [“This irritated or puzzled such students of literature and their professors as were accustomed to ‘serious’ courses replete with ‘trends ’ and ‘schools ’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/this-irritated-or-puzzled-such-students-of-literature-and-their/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [Teachers study and learn better than students. They read before classes,teach it during classes and still go through it after classes. They do this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/egba-terry/teachers-study-and-learn-better-than-students-they-read-before/) [Egba Terry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/egba-terry/) > [Students who read the most also read the best, achieve the most, and stay in school the longest. Conversely, those who dont read much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-trelease/students-who-read-the-most-also-read-the-best-achieve-the-most-and/) [Jim Trelease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-trelease/) > [“The number of books students read...is among the best indicators of student reading development.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-schmoker/the-number-of-books-students-read-is-among-the-best-indicators-of/) [Mike Schmoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-schmoker/) > [Students are not to read the Bible, jurors are not to hear it, prosecutors cannot quote from it, and teachers are not to display…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-e-reed-jr/students-are-not-to-read-the-bible-jurors-are-not-to-hear-it/) [Ralph E. Reed, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-e-reed-jr/) > [Students read for tests and because their parents ask them to, but I think it's very important to tell children that you can read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adora-svitak/students-read-for-tests-and-because-their-parents-ask-them-to-but-i/) [Adora Svitak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adora-svitak/) > [Every year, I have my graduate students read the great works of history, from classical times to the present. They gamely tackle Tacitus, ponder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/every-year-i-have-my-graduate-students-read-the-great-works-of/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [Something I tell my students is to read once; then if you still have problems with it, read it a second time. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-gonzalez-torres/something-i-tell-my-students-is-to-read-once-then-if-you-still-have/) Felix Gonzalez-Torres > [Students will read if we give them the books, the time, and the enthusiastic encouragement to do so. If we make them wait for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donalyn-miller/students-will-read-if-we-give-them-the-books-the-time-and-the/) [Donalyn Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donalyn-miller/) > [“put my copy on the document camera so students can see how I read and annotate as I go.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cris-tovani/put-my-copy-on-the-document-camera-so-students-can-see-how-i-read-and/) [Cris Tovani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cris-tovani/) > [We are in a time, because of the proliferation of online media and a hundred channels on cable, where teenagers and young adults and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-grayer/we-are-in-a-time-because-of-the-proliferation-of-online-media-and-a/) [Jonathan Grayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-grayer/) ## More by Nicholas Carr > [“For the last five centuries, ever since Gutenberg's printing press made book reading a popular pursuit, the linear, literary mind has been at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/for-the-last-five-centuries-ever-since-gutenberg-s-printing-press/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“In programming the World Wide Computer, we will be programming our lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/in-programming-the-world-wide-computer-we-will-be-programming-our/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“What we’re experiencing is, in a metaphorical sense, a reversal of the early trajectory of civilization: we are evolving from being cultivators of personal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/what-we-re-experiencing-is-in-a-metaphorical-sense-a-reversal-of-the/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“As long as algorithms determine the distribution of profits, they will also determine what gets published. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/as-long-as-algorithms-determine-the-distribution-of-profits-they-will/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“those with the helpful software were found “to aimlessly click around” as they tried to crack the puzzle.27”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/those-with-the-helpful-software-were-found-to-aimlessly-click-around/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“Our brains turn into simple signal-processing units, quickly shepherding information into consciousness and then back out again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/our-brains-turn-into-simple-signal-processing-units-quickly/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“What is different, and troubling, is that skimming is becoming our dominant mode of reading. Once a means to an end, a way to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/what-is-different-and-troubling-is-that-skimming-is-becoming-our/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“They failed to appreciate how the network would funnel the energies of the people into a centrally administered, tightly monitored information system organized to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/they-failed-to-appreciate-how-the-network-would-funnel-the-energies/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“In the long run, the IT department is unlikely to survive, at least not in its familiar form.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/in-the-long-run-the-it-department-is-unlikely-to-survive-at-least-not/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“Personal memory shapes and sustains the “collective memory” that underpins culture.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/personal-memory-shapes-and-sustains-the-collective-memory-that/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“The near-continuous stream of new information pumped out by the Web also plays to our natural tendency to “vastly overvalue what happens to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/the-near-continuous-stream-of-new-information-pumped-out-by-the-web/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“The strip-mining of “relevant content” replaces the slow excavation of meaning.   IT”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/the-strip-mining-of-relevant-content-replaces-the-slow-excavation-of/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“The Net grants us instant access to a library of information unprecedented in its size and scope, and it makes it easy for us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/the-net-grants-us-instant-access-to-a-library-of-information/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“A 1989 study showed that readers of hypertext often ended up clicking distractedly “through pages instead of reading them carefully.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/a-1989-study-showed-that-readers-of-hypertext-often-ended-up-clicking/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) > [“Activities of self-realization are subject to increasing marginal utility:”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/activities-of-self-realization-are-subject-to-increasing-marginal/) [Nicholas Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) [Explore all 108 Nicholas Carr quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke University professor Katherine Hayles confessed, “I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore.”10 Hayles teaches English; the students she’s talking about are students of literature.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nicholas Carr" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-meeting-duke-university/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-meeting-duke-university/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/nicholas-carr-4579_books_in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-mee_3086883.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke University professor Katherine Hayles confessed, “I can’t…” — Nicholas Carr", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Nicholas Carr", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-carr/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“In a talk at a recent...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-meeting-duke-university/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-carr/in-a-talk-at-a-recent-phi-beta-kappa-meeting-duke-university/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```