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This just in: Americans reading less

In what will be a suprise to no one except a few shut-ins, a U.S. Census Bureau survey conducted in 2002 has concluded that Americans are spending less time reading books — if they read them at all. A New York Times story summarizes the survey, to be released to the public by the National Endowment for the Arts today, and the results are worse than many commentators might have imagined: “Among its findings are that fewer than half of Americans over 18 now read novels, short stories, plays or poetry; that the consumer pool for books of all kinds has diminished; and that the pace at which the nation is losing readers, especially young readers, is quickening.” Those of us who still read can take solace in at least one of the survey’s conclusions: “Of literary readers, 43 percent perform charity work; only 17 percent of nonreaders do. That’s not a subtle difference.”

Related links:
New York Times article

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