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Americans close the book on recreational reading »

Posted by: charbarred 9 months, 2 weeks ago

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Despite rising education levels, a decade of Harry Potter and the near-ubiquity of big-chain bookstores, Americans of every age are reading less and less for pleasure these days, according to an analysis being released today by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Read Full Story at usatoday.com

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Comments So Far: 18

palamaComment removed: User banned.
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Harbeas9 months, 1 week ago

palama
I have to classify myself as one of the dying breeds. I too seldom watch tv except for the good sporing event or the history or the discovery channel. While I don't read a novel a week I go in spurts. Sometimes I might read 2 or 3 books a week and then maybe won't read any for a month. I really think people are missing a lot by not reading for pleasure. A good author will make watching tv or a movie seem boring. A good author can put you inside the characters mind and thoughts. TV cannot do that
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MyCampingMall9 months, 1 week ago

I have the remedy. Go out on a camping trip, set up your camp site and sit back and read until your heart is content. What, you say you know nothing about camping. Well, just go to my camping mall (httP://ww... and you can learn a world about camping and hiking.
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Harbeas9 months, 1 week ago

Sorry MyCampingMall
I did all the camping I'll ever do in the military. My idea of roughing it is staying at a Holiday Inn with no swimming pool!
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marshx9 months, 1 week ago

its the medium that's changing, internet publications should be taken into account!
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ZiegfeldGirl9 months, 1 week ago

Wow, I can't imagine not reading. I read all the time, waiting for the kids, to them after school, before I go to bed...I go through several at a time, I keep stacks next to my bed. I don't think my kids can get to sleep without reading a book. Every so often I notice a shelf or two is starting to lean so I hunt through their stuffed animals and under their pillows to retrieve all the books they've squirreled away. But I never reprimand them for it. My oldest has the top AR score in the school, and that doesn't take into account the tons of books she reads that aren't AR titles. All of them make the "Wall of Fame" every year.
(Sorry for bragging, I'm proud of them. Raising good readers is one of my top priorities)
:)
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  aceofspades19 months, 1 week ago
  
  ZG - instilling a fondness for reading is one of the great gifts a parent can give to their children.
  
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  SonOfTheMask9 months, 1 week ago
  
  ZG: We're very alike! I am a recovering biblio-holic. Well, not really...I read all the time, too! I typically have 3-5 books going at any given time. We've been almost religious about reading to our kids at night and now my son (a 4th grader) is a big reader and my daughter (in 1st grade) is SO excited about starting to really read. She even "writes" her own stories and staples the pages together and makes little drawings so she can read to me.
  I totally agree that encouraging kids to be good readers is a top priority. They learn so much!
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aceofspades19 months, 1 week ago

I think lots of cons would really appreciate those books with the pop-up cutouts or big pictures - all in black &white though big letters work too
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  SonOfTheMask9 months, 1 week ago
  
  Conservatives do appreciate those kinds of books...they make nice holiday gifts for Far Left acquaintances.
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    aceofspades19 months, 1 week ago
    
    SOM - I agree both ends of the spectrum have reading comprehension probs - cons can only understand Coulter - & far left nothing
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stardawg9 months, 1 week ago

I have said for quite awhile this is a saddening trend here in the ole USA. As a kid , I read everything I could get my hands on, including encylopedias. Now, I watch my friends and relatives kids and they show no interest in reading. Critical thinking is sped along by reading, maybe sometime soon this trend will reverse.
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johnb300m9 months, 1 week ago

I wish I had time to read. It usually takes me an entire year to finish a book, and I hate that. I'm so busy with school and work. And at the end of the day when I'm exhausted, sometimes reading is pointless, because I'll just fall asleep.
I have several books in my queue already:
Currently reading: Why People Believe Weird Things - Shermer
I started this book in Jan. 2007 and I have 100 pages left.
Why Men Fall Asleep After Sex - Leyer, Goldburg, I'm halfway through.
To Read:
9/11 Commission report
Where Have all the Leaders Gone - Iacocca
3 Evolution/Creationism books to read, I'm halfway through one of them for a class.

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Shankari259 months, 1 week ago

stardawg--You hit the nail on the head. It is critical thinking that is spurred by reading. People don't read and they don't think. I read non-fiction all the time for fun. It's not a novel, but no one makes me do it.
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aceofspades19 months, 1 week ago

My work often involves my going to people's homes. I'm appalled at the absence of books in so many of the homes -Reader's Digest seems to be heavy reading for many of them
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researchanalyst9 months, 1 week ago

I remember when I taught a pol sci class over a decade ago, the bitching and whining over reading a book and doing a report on it.
when I was in college, if you had 10 books in a social science class to read, that was about par.
There's something about this new generation. They think they can get by without reading a book. they'll tell you in class they didn't read the text. (And so your grade should be.....??)
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reviewer9 months, 1 week ago

Does this factor in audio books? Then again books have taken a big hit from tech toys.
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linasellersComment removed: User banned.