“When I read, I withdraw from the phenomenal world. I turn my attention “inward”. Paradoxically, I turn outward toward the book I am holding, and, as if the book were a mirror, I feel as though I am looking inward. (The idea of a mirror is an analogy for the act of reading. And I can imagine other analogies as well: For instance, I can imagine reading is like withdrawing to a cloister behind my eyes – an open court hemmed by a covered path; a fountain, a tree – a place of contemplation. Reading is like this closed-eye world – and reading takes place behind lids of a sort. An open book acts as a blind – its boards and pages shut out the worlds clamorous stimuli and encourage the imagination.”

Peter Mendelsund’s What We See When We Read