Quote of the day
Americans, once members of a proudly literate society, read much less than they used to. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, which conducts the most comprehensive survey of the nation’s reading habits, fewer than half of all adults reported having read a book of any kind in 2022. Only 38 percent read a novel or short story. A study analyzing 236,000 responses to the American Time Use Survey found that the proportion of Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28 percent in 2004 to 16 percent in 2023. (The study looked at people who had read a book, magazine, or newspaper; listened to an audiobook; or read an e-book.) Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book: Last year, 57 percent of Americans placed a bet.
The decline in reading cuts across age groups, gender, and education levels. Even the demographics that traditionally read the most—retirees, women, and college graduates—have seen a collapse.
~ Rose Horowitch
The decline in reading cuts across age groups, gender, and education levels. Even the demographics that traditionally read the most—retirees, women, and college graduates—have seen a collapse.
~ Rose Horowitch
Joel:
Typically, reading a book consists of turning paper pages bound together and enclosed in a hard cover. Or at least such was the older description and my experience. Now it can be on a computer. I have not done the computerized book yet. I still like turning paper pages. When I would travel to Asia from Michigan, I would have one or two books. One to read on the plane and another to read in a hotel room if bored.
Much of my reading is done on my laptop now. It consists of far shorter reads (articles) and not for pleasure. I wonder what will happen to the newer creative reads akin to books such as “The Terminal Man” by Michael Critchton or James Michener’s “Hawaii” or “The Drifters.”
As a young teen, I was able to imagine and image those places. As an adult, I was able to visit many of those places in Europe and Asia, China, etc. Walked The Wall, saw the Maginot Line, the Roman ruins in Germany, etc. And traveled in the military as an NCO.
The desire to see such places spawned from reading books. They were what we as a family could afford. If one can do so, travel to see what you read able.
@Bill,
I got my first Kindle over a decade ago. Now I’m on my second.
I used to take three large books on vacation. Now, I can carry an entire library in the palm of my hand. I can read in the dark. I can read while lying on my back. I don’t need a bookmark–the Kindle opens to the last page I was reading. When I’m done, I don’t have to figure out what to do with the book. And Kindle books are cheaper than dead tree books, especially cheaper than hard cover books.
If I see a promising book review, I can buy it online within a couple minutes and never leave the living room. The local library allows borrowing of digital books.
Joel:
The loss of turning pages. I did have a much larger library. Still have my books on Production and Supply Chain both disciplines of which I was certified as well as Six Sigma.
I still use my laptop for exploration. Will consider . . .
I switched to a Kindle when my arthritic hands could not deal with even a small paperback without some discomfort. I can balance the Kindle on the arm of my chair and not even touch it except to turn the page by a tap. I gave most of my paperback novels to the thrift store and my nonfiction books to the state university library and kept the ones with the most sentimental value. Computer and phone work for online articles and newspapers. I do miss the feel of turning pages, especially on a brand new book.