Friday, February 01, 2008

Reading: Diminishing? Or was it never here anyway? [edited]

I have become really interested lately in the national discussion about reading. The National Endowment for the Arts believes the quantity Americans are reading is diminishing at an alarming rate, with devastating consequences for our democracy and culture. If you want to read more about this debate, here are some relevant citations. I am interesting in finding more, so please share then, if you have any.

1 comment:

Barbara said...

I'd add to your excellent list (still have to get my hands on that issue of Harper's) the interesting critique at if:book of the NEA report and the recently-published Libraries Unlimited book Reading Matters, which provides a useful meta-analysis of lots of reading studies.

I don't understand why we're supposed to panic about this. I think reading and book culture, generally, is in pretty good shape.