Again?

I came across a book called "On Repeat", meaning setting a CD player or similar device to keep re-playing a piece of music.  I am interested in the contrast between the idea of playing a song again and the habit of some readers to avoid reading a book they have read.  I suspect the difference lies in the time it takes to play a typical musical composition and the time involved in reading a book.  The book "An Experiment in Criticism" by C.S. Lewis asserts there are two kinds of readers, those who re-read a book and those who don't.

When I taught the fun course to education grad teachers, "Personal Reading for Professional Development", most of the students were mature adult teachers with years of experience teaching.  I often encouraged them to find a book they remembered fondly or one that changed their lives and take time to re-read it.  I remember most of them who tried that found the 2nd time was a very good one that reminded them of the earlier experience.  

 

C.S. Lewis was a professor of literature and you can bet that he read and re-read a book many times over.

I have written about my quick test for students.  It was the one where I asked the class to raise their hand if they had read the assignment, usually a chapter in my book, "Testing, Grading and Instructional Format" (t.ly/q1tkV) .  Most students raised their hand.  I would select a student at random and verify: "You read the chapter." "Yes, I did".  "Good.  Now the first words are "not only".  What is the next word?"  The student never knew the next word.  I am confident that students never would pass my stupid test.