10:07 PM

I’m sad to say this, but the NEA’s recent report that Americans Read Fewer Books is just a wee bit alarmist. It’s filled with overhyped generalizations. Generalizations of any sort give me hives.

Don’t mistake me, I’m sympathetic to the issue. I believe reading is a crucial part of a good life and have devoted an entire room of my house to my books. But the rhetoric is so absurdly overwrought that I can’t take it seriously. This problem is happening for “first time in modern history”? All I can think is that the authors have a much different definition of “modern” than I do. Do these people remember anything before 1980?

Don’t answer that. Just go read the report.

For the first time in modern history, less than half of the adult population now reads literature, and these trends reflect a larger decline in other sorts of reading.

…

Reading at Risk presents a distressing but objective overview of national trends. The accelerating declines in literary reading among all demographic groups of American adults indicate an imminent cultural crisis. The trends among younger adults warrant special concern, suggesting that — unless some effective solution is found — literary culture, and literacy in general, will continue to worsen. Indeed, at the current rate of loss, literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century.