{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/6a9707273e79af5f4879fdae?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"The Book Club: James Marriott","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/1788282528914-5ed8193c-98d4-4806-be1b-1144a02219c8.jpeg?height=200","description":"<p>In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by <em>The Times</em> columnist James Marriott, whose new book is <em>The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-literate Society</em>.</p><p>Are we witnessing the end of the reading age? James explains why literacy has shaped not just our culture but the way we think – and why its decline could have profound consequences for politics, democracy and public life. They discuss how television, TikTok and short-form video have transformed our attention spans, whether AI will further erode the status of writing, and why the readers of the future may become a new cognitive elite.</p>","author_name":"The Spectator"}