quote:

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So steep is the decline nationally that the report warns of "an imminent cultural crisis" and offers this startling prediction: "At the current rate of loss, literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century."

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Here (Seattle Post-Intellegencer) is the artcle on how reading in America has stopped. And of course, for those that really want to read it, here (nea.gov) is the actual .pdf publication.

Satyagraha

[ July 09, 2004, 11:47 PM: Message edited by: Insanity Plea ]
 

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Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
This is why I love the Harry Potter books, even though I didn't love them right away. I always thought they were good, but I was working at B&N when they came out. What a sight, seeing all those kids looking forward to the next book. And the number of kids who showed up at midnight for the release parties!

Anything that can get kids that jazzed about reading is OK with me!

Kwea
 

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Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
 
Given the constant technological innovations in entertainment, most recently in our generation with MTV, I'm not surprised.

Although I think they may be a tad optimistic in the predicted decline of "leisure" reading.

-Trevor
 

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Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
 
I read about this. Scares me silly.

I'm considering making up signs that say "Read a Book" and posting them all over town. My mom think's it's silly. But it couldn't hurt. People are being bombarded with all sorts of other messages all the time. "Work out". "Lose weight". "Buy this". "Vote for that candidate". My take is that if it gets even one person (one easily led person? ) who wouldn't other wise do so to read a book, it can be counted as a success.
 

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Posted by Insanity Plea (Member # 2053) on :
 
I suddenly see it vitally important that I own a used bookstore.

Also, that's why I love BookCrossing (bookcrossing.com), take a used book and leave it on a park bench for someone else to hopefully pick up and read. Such a simple idea, and yet ingenius. Make the world literate again...one book at a time.
Satyagraha
 

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Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
 
Does anyone have a link to a streaming audio of the text?
 

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Posted by Insanity Plea (Member # 2053) on :
 
I'm ashamed of you but...yes i do(npr.org)
Satyagraha
 

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Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
 
I haven't read the article yet, but any statistic discussing human behavior which begins "if current trends continue" or "at the current rate of loss" is suspect for me The fact that you can draw a line on a graph to describe a trend among humans does not mean that you can continue to draw that same line, with the same slope, into the future and call it a prediction. We're more complicated than that.
 

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Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
 
I thought the link between museum visits and volunteer service and reading was interesting. Makes perfect sense to me. In my own experience, I've found people who read to be much more open to new ideas and just more fun in general. I read a ton, and thankfully both of my kids love to read as well.

space opera
 

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Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
I love the fact that you have it on audio...
 

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Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
 
Forgot to add - Louisville is putting in a Half-Price Books! I'm so stupidly excited. I had really missed that store since we moved from Indiana.

space opera
 

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Posted by Insanity Plea (Member # 2053) on :
 
Half-Price Books is awesome! :: bought a copy of the H2G2 radio scripts and a like new leatherbound copy of the completely h2g2 for $10 ::
I love used bookstores! The one bookstore I miss the most is Powell's in Oregon...world's largest physical bookstore, four stories tall and a full city block...mmmmmmm.

Geoff: I agree, and three points of data isn't enough to be accurate. However, I do find that there may just be a trend in the lack of reading, especially when in today's generations those that do read are looked down upon as "weird" and "bookworms," it does show some societal trend against reading.
Satyagraha
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
It's not a new trend, Bernard. Eighty years ago, people who read a lot were ALSO considered "weird" "bookworms." Seriously.

"Get your nose out of that book" is not a NEW phrase.
 

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Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
 
I got called a bookworm for the first time back in 1980 as a fourth-grader. I remember being pleased by the comment. Maybe I've just always been weird.

space opera
 

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Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
 
As Tom pointed out, reading intensely as always had certain connotations with it - perhaps moreso in America which was built on blue collar foundations, although I can't speculate as to the validity of this idea or attitudes in other countries.

We tend as a nation not to take schooling seriously whereas Taiwan, by example, takes it nearly religiously. As does Japan.

-Trevor
 

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Posted by Insanity Plea (Member # 2053) on :
 
Hmm...in that case, it makes me wonder what this glorious literacy rate does if people don't actually apreciate it...
Satyagraha
 

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Posted by Alucard... (Member # 4924) on :
 
Danzig, I just wanted to say that your streaming audio comment was an instant classic.

Thank You.

[ July 10, 2004, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Alucard... ]
 

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