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Americans Read Fewer Books
DesScorp writes "The National Endowment for the Arts has released a study that shows a decline in the reading of fiction, poetry, and short stories. The study began in 1982, but shows a particularly steep decline from 1992-2002, the first decade of the Age of the Internet. They never seem to draw the conclusion that the Net may have accelerated our turn from this kind of reading, but the timing seems suspicious to me. I know I don't read for pleasure as much as I did years ago because of the time spent on the Net (and in technical books). NPR has a good audio link here for you non-readers; the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a nice article as well." You could also - assuming you read - see the study itself.
Why do you think everyone on Slashdot has to yell RTFA?!?! Oh wait...I think I posted without doing so myself--DOH!
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Why should we read books? It's just a matter of time before they become movies anyhow. America rules.
friends don't let friends use linearly dependent row vectors.
Well, reading any more is such a pain in Braille since I've gone blind from too much pr0n and.. you know.. what goes with pr0n.
I read alot, particularly content on the web, so I'm not really concerned with our culture becoming "post-literate" because of the decline in novel consumption. The thing I do worry about, however, is attention span. I believe my attention span has dropped thanks in part to sites like slashdot, where you get your morsel of information, feel satiated, and move on.
That said, I believe television to be much more dangerous to the attention span than anything else.
BTW, I just finished The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Incredible!
Shouldn't You expect more from your DJ?
Book prices have gone thru the roof in the past 10 years.
Combine that with more Internet use and a 500 channel cable TV system (with a DVR, of course) and it's no wonder I hardly read anymore.
Drop softcover prices down to a sane $4 and hardcover to $12 and we'll see an increase in reading again.
I've got several books stacked up to read, but I just don't seem to get around to them as interesting as they are. It's not that I don't read a LOT, but the majority of it is on this little screen that I'm looking at now. The immediacy and interactivity of the Internet much more easily grabs my attention. The times when I do get some significant reading done are those times when I don't have easy Internet access, like sometimes when I'm traveling or if I'm stuck in waiting rooms like the doctor's office.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
For the time invested, reading is a very poor way of getting information, especially with regards to fiction. Yes, there are advantages (ability to use imagination, etc.) but really, reading at 50 pages an hour I might spend 10 hours reading a new Tom Clancy book.
At the end, the total amount of recall I have of specific aspects of the book will be about equivalent to the recall I'd have after seeing a movie, only the movie gives me the information passively and in a fifth the time. Do you really remember significantly more detail about a story from reading a book than from seeing a movie?
Also, (and I think this is hugely important) reading has very limited memetic aspects. When I've read a new book, the first thing I want to do is discuss it with other people. However, since relatively few people have read the same book. The meme hasn't propagated. I can explain the experience of reading the book to others, but most of the time they really don't care because I'm unable to convey enough to start discussion. With a movie that millions have seen, or a webpage with a quick read that I could blog about or send the link around in email, the memetic aspects are much greater.
I feel this is the eventual fallout of not teaching the novel innhigh school.
Many schools will allow a magazine article to stand in for a book.
Disgusting
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It is no surprise that books are "going to the wayside." The problem is largely because of the Internet and television. People are glued to screens/monitors for their source of education and information. I mean take a look at encyclopedias and libraries --since the revolution of the Internet, sales of encyclopedias have skyrocked downwards, and fewer people are visiting libraries. And for good reasons, the WWW is literally a library and it is convenient. Libraries and encyclopedias once spurred reading.
It is only until now that I realize the value of reading. I am seriosuly pursuing a doctorate in Computer Science, and a critical part of the doctorate program is reading and writing --reading technical journals and lots of papers (on paper). Training yourself to read at a fast pace is vital in order to catch up with your work and to comprehend all the information. The less capable you are reading, forget any chance of being a researcher. Nonetheless, this news is sad.
There's more to reading than sci-fi, you know.
Have you tried Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin? That and the two subsequent books rocked my socks...this coming from someone who could never get passed the first 100 pages of Eye of the World. I mean come on, "Mountains of Dhoom"? That's just not trying very hard.
One thought that came to my head is that people are busier creating media now - more photos, lots more video - and thus do not have as much time to read.
In a way, even posting to Slashdot as indulgent as it seems is another form of creation - I'm sure a lot of people spend a lot of time on forums now that might otherwise be reading. And perhaps the act of a lot of people writing is just as mind-expanding as reading a good book (depends on the forums you are in of course!)
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That's no longer true, at least potentially, now that they give subscribers about a ten minute jump on the articles. As a subscriber, I've actually read a few articles and then waited impatiently to be allowed to post.
In this case, it's especially ironic since I've read about five links to this article from other sources already.
Finally,I don't think the free speech ethos of this place is ever going to allow what you suggest to happen -- and rightly so.
D
In the end, doesn't it do the same thing? Instead of reading sonnets by Shakespeare, people read some girls poems on her webpage, and instead of reading the editiorials from The Times, you read some guys opinions on his blog. If it intrests you and is valid for you, go with it.
It's also been shown in recent studies that American's are spending less time in front of the TV. Is this all internet time now?
I consider reading a really good thing. But if these people are spending more time reading on the net maybe it's just as well. It certainly better than TV.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Along with the internet, a separate beast arose: News Entertainment. Between the OJ Simpson trial, the Bill Clinton scandal, and all the rest of the yellow journalism of the 1990 the need for harlequin romances has diminished.
Here you have things that appear pressing, dramatic, and interesting that also are kind of real as well. Why read fake dirt about fake people when you can have real dirt on a public figure?
I'm sure the internet has had something to do with the reduced book reading, because everyone who uses the internet reads and writes a hell of a lot more than they used to. That cuts into the desire to "read for fun," as they say. But for my money the rise of programming for every demographic possible and the horrible yellow journalism of today have satisfied our need for fiction.
Public libraries are one of the few public institutions we have that break down economic barriers to gaining knowledge.
Think about that during the next mil levy.
-Peter
. Penguins Surely Ca
Exactly. We've had proof for years that Americans read fewer books - AOL users.
While it is interesting to correlate the decline in leisure reading to the rise of the Internet, the reality is that several other technologies have grown in this time period.
The early 90's were really the booming growth period of video rental. We've also expansion in the areas covered by cable and satellite television, meaning that the average person has access to far more entertainment programming than before. When I had only six channels of free-to-air programming, I was nowhere near as likely to stay glued to the television.
Add to that the increasing growth of suburban sprawl and the likelihood of a larger commute. For a lot of people, this easily has started to eat and extra hour or two out of their day, and that's not just in the largest metro areas anymore.
The Internet has contributed, but moreso in being able to be productive from home. Remember back in 1992 when NOBODY in the US had a mobile phone? A few maybe had a car phone. Now they're everywhere, and almost standard issue at work, so you can do more work at home and be reached at all kinds of hours.
This added stress of the work anywhere, do anything, growing city contributes to the decline of reading anywhere in the world, but impacts the U.S. even more than others because most U.S. cities do not have adequate public transportation. If you take a train or a bus to work, you might be able to do some reading then (I used to read a chapter or two each way in Helsinki), but it's not too likely to happen when driving.
At any rate, this isn't an Internet-driven change. It's more a 'the man is squeezing every last drop out of us' kind of change.
Linux - because it doesn't leave that Steve Ballmer aftertaste.
Stuff actually happens in A Song of Ice and Fire, and GRRM can tell a damn good story. His characters are believable, deep, and diverse; you'll remember them, unlike in WoT, where you're buried in a mass of minor characters that you're expected to remember if you want to follow the story. I just wish he'd hurry up with book 4.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
One thing nobody's pointed out yet (at least that I've noticed) is that people do much more writing now than they used to, thanks to the Internet. The fact that your writing actually has a chance to be read, and to influence people, defintely makes you more likely to write. The threat of grammar nazis makes it more likely that you will want to write correctly, too.
I know that I write more than ever, and that's A Good Thing from the standpoint of literacy.
Also, when people go on the Internet, they are almost always reading or writing. And this means literacy is more important than ever, not less.
Perhaps this is something to applaud. If reading stuff on the Internet is displacing TV watching as entertainment, then that's surely a good thing for reading as an activity.
D
i love the way you went anonymous to say that. you know, /. is probably the one place you don't need to do that :p. proclaim your love of sci-fi loudly from the rooftops. personally, i hate sci-fi. mostly. well, i've never really given it a chance. does Red Dwarf when i was younger count? :p
to contribute to the topic.. it just occured to me that the only time i really read (other than you know newspapers, mags and TFM*) is when i don't have internet access. i get through several novels a year, on holidays and staying with people w/o net access.. guess i'm pretty sad too huh.
a good novel often sticks in the mind. my web browsing (which there's so much more of) rarely does. hmm, should take a hint from that.
*instructions for tech-toys
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Its official...
Books are dying!
The other thing is the baen library is very nice for Science Fiction and Fantasy. I've bought several books after reading a downloaded txt file of the book and then wanting it in a hardback and the rest of a series.
-- Slashdot, making the Left look conservative since 1997.
Then do what I'm doing. Go back and read the golden age stuff. I'm working on the Med Ship series now, and Doc Smith is always good for a quick couple of hours. A.E. van Voght, Heinlein of course, there are hundreds and hundreds of titles, all great.
Technology is actually increasing my reading. I don't generally get a chance to carry books around with me, but I always have my palm. With a 512M SD card in there, I not only have about 10 hours of NPR programs to listen to, and a couple hundred photos, I've got about 100 books in there as well.
Sure, I prefer paper, though the new 320x320 screens are quite good so I don't care that much either way anymore. But I ALWAYS have 100 books on me, usually 2 or 3 of them in progress, and I can read any of them any time I have to wait 5 or 10 minutes for something.
First off I'm Canadian and I used to read a lot when I was in my early teens (and I do mean a lot) I would rip through novels and be hungry for more then I'd get into history and politics and then switch back to novels. Through high school and college I was still reading fiction but only a few hours after going to bed, still a good flow of literature, but nothing like before. Once I got working though I found that I really didn't have the time or the juice to read every night, then that turned into every week and now I barely read at all. Personally I think it's sad and I often wonder why I can't get back into the groove. I went through a streak of some really bad (new) books and I started working more overtime and found that I was too fatigued to keep up even a rudimentary interest in reading consistantly.
;-)
Oddly though, I find myself reading a lot of humour content on the web (blogs, articles, etc), but it still doesen't compare to a good book. I guess I have a kind of reader's apathy, I would like to read more, but I never do...
From time to time it strikes me when I go searching through the cards in my wallet and find my old, expired, Library card and think to myself "oh yeah, I should renew that one day..."
Anyone else there in Slashdotland feel this way? Did you ever get back into reading on a regular basis (if so HOW)?
P.S. The last good book I read was "Goodbye, Mickey Mouse" by Len Deighton written in 1982 which I am convinced the 2001 film "Pearl Harbor" stole it's story from, but whatever...
crazy dynamite monkey
My children are required to read for 30 minutes every day. My son that just finished 1st grade is reading Harry Potter now. My daughter will be going into 1st grade and is reading Dr. Suess and equivalent.
Both of them enjoy reading and may whine a little initially when it is reading time, but then they oftern read longer because they get into it. At least once a week they end up going an hour. During the summer they have lots of time to read, so I have them make the most of it.
Learing to enjoy reading is an aquired enjoyment, and with all of the other forms of entertainment available people need to be encouraged to learn how to enjoy reading.
In fact, it is reading time now. See ya.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
I admit that I read only a few novels per year. However, I wish I had time to read more, as some of the brightest humans to have ever lived communicate through novels. The memories I have from video games and TV just don't measure up to those from novels, perhaps because novels engage the imagination to a much greater degree. Oh well, back to reading API specs, on-line news, and source code.
-- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak
You're missing the point. This study is obviously biased and funded by Microsoft. You see, a decline in reading paper books, actually helps them sell e-books in ridiculous proprietary formats. Think of the selling point, "no one wants paper anymore, and this proves it, buy our DRM enhanced versions of the classics today!"
This signature has Super Cow Powers
It's stems from 3 main reasons
1) Decline in education stictness / increased dropout rate of schools
2) Information overload (I mean honestly, I could waste 3 hours a day reading slashdot comments alone, not to mention the 10 different news / info sites I tend to frequent on a daily basis
3) In america, the work week continues to extend well beyond 40+ hours. Whether it's the student just out of college trying to get a head up in a company... or a family trying to make ends meet... families just planning their lives to 5 minute increments.
Combine any/all of those, and it's not shocking. Plus, add in TV channels, etc and it's not too shocking.
my last sig was too controversial... now, a new and improved useless sig!
This seems like as good a place as any to throw in a plug for Project Gutenberg (old books for free!) and the Internet Booklist (a good place to go if you don't know what to read).
-jim
My local library doesnt carry any star trek or HGTTG books.
I won't comment on your choice of reading material, since mine is pretty dubious too. But...have you asked them about it? How are they to know that local people are interested in these books if local people don't ask them about these books? Most librarians would rather carry books that get used and read than books that sit around gathering dust, but won't know what you want unless you tell them.
Also, most libraries have agreements to share books with other libraries in the area, and you can usually check for books you're interested in through the library computer system. Maybe your local library doesn't have the books you want, but maybe the one in the next town does, and will happily ship them over for you if you just ask.
I'm down to about four cheesy SF novels a week now. Back when I was in school (late seventies), it was more like ten. That's a pretty sharp decline, I suppose. :)
9 books? You're not very smart, are you?
little joke....
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
...and other techical books of the sort. Where exactly would I fit in reading a book for pleasure.
Add your list here ->
So now is somebody going to tell us there is a PIAA (Publishing Industry Association of America) that is going to start suing big anonymous blocks of IP addresses, under the assertion that rampant online piracy is to blame for a large drop in book sales?
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
And the 30-second TV advertisement the most dangerous of all. When I went to college, I would go a good part of the year without watching any TV at all. When I did watch a show, I was appalled by the idiocy of the commercials -- how did I ever accept them as a normal aspect of daily entertainment? They teach people to accept simple emotional appeals instead of complex logical arguments, and tend to encourage vices (buy stuff you don't need with money you don't have, convince yourself you deserve a higher standard of living than the people around you) instead of virtues (solve your own problems, be happy with what you have).
Digression: short attention spans are a threat to society because they cause people to be intellectually lazy and assume that the world is simpler than it really is. Then they make poor decisions based on their incomplete understanding.
I try to avoid TV now, but I keep having the misfortune of living with someone who can't live without it.
TV is also disruptive to anyone within earshot who wants to do something else (like read a book). I wonder how often people are drawn to the tube because someone else insists on watching something and they say to themselves "oh well, as long as its on, I might as well watch because I can't concentrate on anything else."
-jim
Like most slashbots, I read a great deal on the internet, and I read a larger number of books than the populace at large.
:)
However, I have started to actually absorb more information while reading less. This slashdot article discusses timeshifting, and using timeshifting I "read" a great deal more.
www.audible.com is an incredible service - and I now listen to two books a month from them. I listen while driving to and from work, I also listen when at the gym or jogging. As a result, I am able to get through more books (and exercise!) than I otherwise normally would. So do I read less? Perhaps - but I am absorbing more.
Blatant plug: www.audible.com is the only site I have ever seen that actually justifies (in its own way) DRM files that I would say are worth paying for. If you like it, and sign up, say "chumkil" reccomended you. (I told you this was a blatant plug!
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
My business faces ruin. Book sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many books as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique bookstores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one reads, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family reading - stuff that the whole family could read together. I don't sell sick stuff like Stephen King or trashy romance novels, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian sections that I know of.
The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase books without profanity or violent scenes. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer books. Why is no one buying books? Are people not interested in literature? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, listen to music? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Slashdot use is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three hours spent reading is spent on Slashdot. On Slashdot, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of reading material in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the publishing industry, from authors, to publishers to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the movie rental store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike text, it's harder to get video clips posted to Slashdot.
A week ago, an unpleasant experience with Slashdot junkies gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.
"Dude, I'm going to go home and post a comment to Slashdot right away."
"Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect."
I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the publishing industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going to go home and post to Slashdot, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice.
"Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.
"That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of Slashdot readers. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If Slashdotters want to steal from the publishing industry, then the publishing industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable bookstore will allow you to buy another book. If the Slashdotters can't buy the books to begin with, then they will become illiterate, and they won't be able to post to Slashdot, will they? It's no different to doctors blacklisting drug dealers from buying prescription medicine.
I have just written a letter to the publishing industry outlining my proposal. Suing Slashdotters one by one isn't going far enough. Not to mention Slashdotters use the fact that they're being sued to unfairly portray themselves as victims. A national register of Slashdotters would make the problem far easier to deal with. People would be encouraged to give the names of suspected Slashdotters to a hotline, similar to TIPS. Once we know the size of the problem, the police and other law enforcement agencies will be force
Hear recorded Slashdot headlines on your phone! New service beta testing. Just call (248) 434-5508
I saw many comments posted that I would like to touch on
The article isn't about reading in general, it's about reading fiction, and poetry, not technical manuals and news (on or off line.) So it's not about the literacy (as one poster seemed to think.
Also movies can not possibly contain all the content of a well written book, take The Lord Of the Rings for example, if all the content of the books was included in the movies we'd be waiting for parts 4-9 to come out still.
Reading is not made to be interesting any more in schools, required reading includes books that no one wants to read anymore, and the school describes them as "Literary classics" and to kids classics = old, and un interesting.
So in conclusion, reading can still be fun, we just have to have our schools upgrade the required reading, perhaps some Douglas Adams (may he rest in peace) or Terry Pratchett. Or allow students to pick books (not magazine articles) to read. But some required reading that should include the classics are...
There are others that I would recommend, however their titles slip my mind at the moment.
DarkMantle I been bored, so I started a blog.
New York Public Library spokesperson Larry "two-fingers" Benito would only say that they had contacted "our people who deal with this sort of thing", and that he "expected a swift and satisfying outcome" to the suit.
I'm sure there's plenty of reasons why people aren't reading as much fiction, and a lot of that probably has to do with the Internet or modern technology.
But, I don't think we're reading less.
Think of how much other stuff there is available to read now, too. Novels have competition, and it's not just movies. It's blogs, RSS feeds, and zines.
-David
Baen is realy nice to, if you like Military SF and fantasy. They have a nice free library, and none of their e-books are DRM encumbered. Once you've burned through the free library the non-gratis e-books aren't that expensive either, and still not DRM encumbered. You may also want to check out Project Gutenberg for some older fiction.
That which is done from love exists beyond good and evil
absolutely agree on the heinlein, just got 4 of his books after reading stranger in a strange land, and i'm just floored by some of it. I especially reccomend his short stories collection "The Green Hills of Earth." While he gets alot wrong, he gets a surprising amount right, given when he wrote it (late forties early fifties) Reading this stuff makes me see why people thought after the moon landing that moon colonies were coming. "Job: A comedy of justice" is quite good as well, though i dont think it really belongs in sci-fi, reminded me of Neil Gaiman's "american gods" alot actually. just about to start starship troopers, (mostly so i can be intellectual and condescending when i talk about the movie;) ) though i'm looking forward to that and "The moon is a Harsh Mistress."
One thing that really catches my attention about his forties and fifties sci-fi are his views on workers rights, safety and fair contracts and such, in space and how reminescent of earlier booming industries were, like sailing or the industrial revolution and whatnot. Its not that he agrees with these things, its like they're just facts of life to him, whereas i couldnt imagine it happening today. And this got me to thinking about how hung up on safety our society is, and whether or not that prevents us from developing as far as we can. Or maybe this is more because of the economics of going to space are radically different from the burgeoning industries of the past, and we cant afford to let men waste their lives in pursuit of their dreams, rather than any humanitarian desires. After all, in one story heinlein puts the earth-moon rates at 30 bucks to a lb, granted 30 bucks might just have meant more to him than to me.
To keep this from getting modded off topic to hell, i'll add my two cents on the internet/computing vs. reading scenario. i've noticed i tend to shift between gaming and reading cycles, usually dependent of availability of new titles in either case. So maybe its just that the book has more competition for our time, especially in fantast and sci-fi, now that there is no longer only one way to inhabit our fantasy worlds. Though its definitely wishful thinking that this is the only reason, i think its definitely a contributing factor.
Some of Heinlein's predictions sneak in as part of the detail.
... but BART opened in 1971/1972, and Citizen of the Galaxy was published in 1957!
Heinlein wrote about US troops in southeast asia in 1963 (Glory Road). And in Citizen of the Galaxy, one of the characters takes a tube transport under the bay. Hey, I've taken BART under the Bay
The book I always wanted Heinlein to write: a completely non-SF book about Ira Johnson's adventures in his youth.
used to spend 20-40 a week and read lots, now spend the same 20-40 a week and get 2 to 4 books if I am lucky. Maybe it is just me but books WENT THRU THE ROOF, and the remarkets, with new covers and titles, makes life more difficult. I spend more and more time getting old masters, Geo.O Smith, PK Dick, Norton and Carter just to name a few. I refuse to pay for a hardback anymore, they are just over-priced paperbacks with no life span, and CURSE the trade paper back fad as well :( :)
I do like a lot of the new comic-style work the net has made possible...RedvsBlue Rocks
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
This article reminds me of a very scary thing I heard from a friend many years ago:
Me: "I really liked the book Farenheight 451. Especially the description of how the world got that way. The censorship didn't come from the leaders - it came from the masses. They wanted everyone to be as vacuous as they were, so they started pushing their leaders to outlaw various intellectual things."
Him: "Wow. That's kind of deep. Who wrote it?"
Me: "Bradbury". You should see the film version too - it's done fairly well.
Him: "Oh, there's a movie of it ? I think I'll just save time and watch that. Reading the book takes too much time..."
Me: "uhh. that's pretty funny - good one.:
Him: "What? What did I say that was funny?"
Me: "Oh...never mind."
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
It's easier to waste a few aggregate hours of a thousand faceless people than a few seconds of your own life.
how to invest, a novice's guide
Americans read of course... but they read garbage. Self-help books and tv guides. Basically the only reading that actually creates an active and critical mind is barely covered in high school. Then maybe a few required courses on the classics in college. Active reading of nonfiction and literature does not permeate in American culture. Sure you have book clubs etc... but thats the vast minority.
Just take a look at the NYTimes Bestseller list.
Its filled with pulp fiction about nothing meaningful, self-help books on how to make money, how to lose weight (yet we are still fat) and just plain out crap. Most of the nonfiction books are about fiction books (da vinci code anyone).
What if us Americans were deeply involved with John Rawls, Plato, Locke, Marx, Chomsky, Zinn, Derrida, Heidegger, Mohammend, Mark, Paul, Lao Tzu, Samjaya, Nagarjuna, Wittgenstein, Shakespeare, Heinlein, etc.... I guess we'd be a population of smart people.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
One of the biggest problems with school reading requirements is that they are weighted against a lot of valid genres, and thereby give students a false idea of what books can be like.
Where's the Sci-Fi? Where's the Fantasy? Where's the Mystery? Where's the adventure? Where's the comedy? These can all be just as thought-provoking genre's to read. Heck, some of the most insightful (and hillarious) things I've ever read were written Dave Barry.
Schools like to claim that they teach the "classics", but in reality they only teach classics that students wouldn't want to read anyways.
Where's Asimov? Where's 1984? Wheres LOTR? Where's Sherlock Holmes? Where's A Confederacy of Dunces? Where's The Third Man? Where's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance? These are all classics in their own right, and yet are not taught because they are not in the "approved" genres.
Why pound into youth's skulls that books are dull, and are associated with essays and tests? Fostering lifetime readers from a young age is more important than forcing kids to read "the classics".
Have you been to your local corporate bookstore lately( ie Barnes & Noble, Borders... )?
They resemble the multiplexes.
Steep prices for what was originally a cheap venue.
Just as Hollywood ony has about 4 different movies that they recycle into "new" movies every season so it seems with these bookstores.
You see many of the "same" books reappearing again and again.
Steve
Steve
I finally started reading Neuromancer recently, but I just can't seem to get it in gear. I'm trying to fit it in between Latin, Italian, wood working, working out, dating, and a full time job.
Really, given the choice between reading a novel or trying to conquer another language, at least right now, I'll take the language.
I dont think this has much to do with the internet.
Actually, I blame parenting, I read books whenever one interests me, I used to read them all the time to pass the time.
Thing is... My parents read to me. and that got me into reading, see, most kids, their parents will pump them out after 9 months and for 6 months give them some attention, then eventually grow tired of them, let someone else take care of them, and when they get old enough, sit them in front of the TV and let the TV raise them, then they wonder why their kids end up in trouble when they're in their teens.
There are seniors at my highschool that cant read past the first grade level. and if they do read past that, they mispronounce so many words. it's really sad, namely because the TV and media and money has raised them, their parents either dont give a fuck, dont know english themselves (I live in a mexican immigrant predominant area)
or are bad parents in general.
I think the only reason I'm not as fucked up and illiterate as half the kids my age is because my parents used to read to me, and when I was in kindergarten, I could understand letters and words better because of that.
Reading is more important than you think.
Of course, this is also America, where most children's parents (both of them) have to work to make end's meat (yes, this is in the world's so-called biggest economy) so most parents dont have the time, though both of my parents worked, they actually took time out to parent us, not get home from work, sit back and watch TV, eat, bitch at the kids for wanting love and attention and going to bed. Like I have seen at some households.
I just think the internet era coincides with this.
Yes, it is true I stopped reading books since I started into computers, needless to say, most books I found interesting I've already read and I'm not impressed with most books that come out today. If I see or hear about a book I find interesting, I'll read it.
What disturbs me the most about this survey is that it sounds like it's leading up to "HEY! no one reads books anymore, say, we can take them off your hands, we'll burn them and return the ashes to the earth, where they belong, then we'll resell them in digital format, a much more reliable, and economically friendly format! The Constitution is looking pretty old as well, it needs to be re-written in digital format and to today's standards!"
I so wouldnt be shocked if that ever happened eventually.
Looking at society's ways, Ray Bradbury's book, Farenheit 451 was pretty damn close to the truth.
Obviously an over simplification, but just one observation that may help to explain the trend.
Book Three, "Memories of Ice," is the first one I read in the series and my favourite. The major problem I have is that most of his books are out of print, which makes them harder to find and more expensive when you do (the library only had the third book, which is where I initially read it).
"Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist." -Indiana Jones
If we move on into science fiction, there's S.M. Stirling, James Alan Gardner, Vernor Vinger, (who as just posted on slashdot, is coming out with a new book soon) Sheri S. Tepper (if you don't mind a strong feminist slant in your fiction) and Steven Barnes.
I'm sure there are more out there, quite possibly even on my bookshelves, but that's what i can remember at the moment.
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As long as i'm posting again however, I'll add Jude Fisher, another new author whose first book (fantasy) took me a little bit to get into but was strongly and amusingly reminiscent of Shakespeare when i did so. (Midsummer Nights Dream i think, or whichever one where everyone ends up romantically entagled with the wrong person.)
Also Paula Volsky, who does quasi-historical fantasy, and Michael Flynn and Stephen Baxter for SF. And just for completeness' sake, there's also Joan D. Vinge (Vernor Vinge's ex-wife, but a good author in her on right. I'm curious if they met because of their writing, or if one of them picked it up from the other after their marriage.)
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