"Beware of the man of one book." -- Thomas Aquinas
Some scary stats on reading posted by Josh at Schulzone(courtesy of parapublishing.com:
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
Unbelievable stuff. Laziness? Stupidity? Lack of access? Too many other things distracting us (TV, computers)? Probably a little bit of each. Exacerbated by a society of anti-intellectual pride where people of learning are viewed as effete snobs.
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.
Just get people to stop reading them. -- Ray Bradbury
6 comments:
Pretty amazing stats......
sad, very very sad. I admit, I was never a big reader when I was younger. I think that was because A) I hated the crap they made us read in school. B) I'm a slow reader, which often meant I couldn't keep up so I equated reading with a chore.
Now that I actually read books that interest me (for pleasure and school) I read a lot more.
I know several people that don't read. It makes me sad to see.
I wonder how far the Internet can go in replacing books.
I realize certain sites, maybe even the majority, are not beneficial in any way to the over all fabric of a society. However I'm not so sure the same can't be said about books. Having worked at a book store for 3 years I can personally attest to the large quantity of books available that are absolute rubbish.
For instance there is a girl down the office from me that goes through romance novels like crazy. Can we seriously say that those books are more edifying than a television show?
Now a blog such as this that examines ideas, produces duologue, and maybe even foster relationships is infinitely more valuable, in my opinion, than a lam fiction novel or even a sensationalized biased non-fiction book.
I'm not saying books are replaceable because I really don't think they are, I'm just saying those other things that are distracting us aren't necessarily harmful.
Scott said, "... other things that are distracting us aren't necessarily harmful." -- very true. I'd certainly have to agree that the internet/blogs have for the most part elevated our literacy and communication. There are a lot of people that would be not taking the time to write (myself included) on a semi-daily basis if not for the ease of blogging. I've tried traditional journaling in the past and got bored with it after a month. I've been consistently blogging for almost a year and half now and know other bloggers that have done it for 5+ years.
I was more speaking to the vast wasteland of TV and to the time spent reading spam and responding to chain e-mails.
And I think that books will always have a place. Subjects just cannot be presented in an in-depth enough manner in an article on a screen. Plus, it's nice to just un-plug sometimes.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope to see you again.
And I think that books will always have a place. Subjects just cannot be presented in an in-depth enough manner in an article on a screen.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Josh did a new post with some more stats, this time from the NEA:
More on Reading
Thanks Josh.
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