Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Reading habits
I don't know whether I should be more surprised that one in four people didn't read a book at all last year -- or that the figure isn't higher.
As I've noted in this space, I read a lot of books -- perhaps one a week -- and I'm a piker compared to some people I know. I also know that many of the people who read this blog are also voracious readers, and more power to you all. But there's no question books mean less to our culture today, and why it's so easy for many people to excise them from their lives. "I just get sleepy when I read," said a man in the AP story. I feel sorry for him, but I understand how he got that idea. When you spend time with the bright colors and razzle-dazzle of so much pop culture, books must seem to pale in comparison. (Though I'd tell him it's possible to live a life that includes reading books, relaxing by the pool AND watching games.) Can the trend be reversed? The conversations I had on Harry Potter release night give me hope it can; but my gut, almost always the pessimist, tells me to forget it. After all, there's a game on. Why bother with some boring book? 32 Comments
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Americans' reading habits are just more evidence of our laziness, which seems to grow boundlessly. We simply prefer the easy, passive approach to information-consumption ... and we're willing to surrender a certain amount of imagination for the convenience. I blogged on this one, too.
I hope the trend can be turned around-just think what kind of world our grandchildren would live in without imagination and inspiration. A sad state of affairs indeed. Yes, watching the game (which I do not miss during all of baseball season) and reading books can both be incorporated into a full and happy life. I read two to three books a week and wouldn't give it up for anything.
We are losing readers in middle school. That's when reading requirements in school begin to get tougher and more extensive. In an effort to broaden the literary horizons of students by requiring them to read the classics
(a noble endeavor), we risk alienating many children who are voracious readers, but who are only interested in science fiction or fantasy. It is imperative that we find a middle ground. I'd hate to lose an entire generation of potential readers to the computer and the iPod.
I think its even worse than it seems, cause now when i go to the bookstore i cant find that proposed "great piece of literature" because the shelves are lined with James Patterson...which are more like reading a movie than a book...
i think half the people who say they read, really read really bad Janet Evanovich (sic), Dean Koontz or the like... i also think Harry Potter is a great choice and hopefully will create more young readers, but i think adults read it too, and then think they just read a book and now they can relax with some TV.
They don't read because they can't. Nobody ever told them it was important; in fact, they were encouraged by teachers and parents to make fun of readers. They nod off, they can't concentrate, they make excuses. Heck, they're just dumb. I read a book or two every week, but then I'm a disembodied brain with nothing else to do . . .
With all the fancy gadgets that are popping by the day, reading indeed is on the decline. Ask an average American teenager about classic literature, and you're more likely to hear "I don't know". But ask about X-Box (and the likes) and you'll have an earful.
LAZINESS could be blamed for it, in part. But the biggest denominator is the PARENTS. Parents buy their kids tech toys rather encouraging them to read.
One in four. That's a sad statistic. And it starts with parents. If you don't read to your childen, they won't pick up a book on thier own.
Reading is not only about the classics, a comic book or graphic novel is a great start for tweens. Once you get a taste for it, reading can be as addictive as X-Box. I read 2-3 books a week, and can't imagine any other way.
I think that this a problem whose fault lies with multiple generations. It probably began around the end of WWII, with the beggining of the technology boom that continues today. Parents did not encourage their children to read as much, and when that generation grew up and took over being parents and educators, they also placed less emphasis on reading. This cycle has repeated itself and worsened over the following generations.
So, here we are today: a society of people whose public schools require only a minimum of reading and parents no longer see the great value of reading to their children--better vocabulary, better reading ability later in life (which helps with study skills), better imagination--and most importantly, the bond that reading and similar activities can create between parent and child, one that putting a kid in front of a TV can't hope to replicate.
The issue at hand isn't how lazy Americans have become (and I agree that we have become appallingly so), but rather that most of those individuals belonging to the one in four who don't read tend to have lower levels of education. Most people who graduate high school but don't continue onto college do so because of financial reasons - eg the family doesn't have $40,000 each year, or the graduate has to find a job to support his/her family. In turn people come to believe that schooling, and by extension, reading, is not as important as getting (and keeping) that job. Or even if they love to read, they just don't have time because they have to make money so that their children have the opportunities they never did. So it's not even a problem of laziness or education even, it's more that our society has some serious capital restructuring issues.
Don't give up hope, Todd - readers are still out there turning pages, believe me. As a public librarian for the past twenty years, I've seen a lot of trends come and go, and the fact is, reading is reading, whether it's comics, newspapers, magazines or books. Even reading on a computer screen "counts" in my humble opinion! Our numbers show a steady increase in books checked out every year, and more than half of those books get checked out by kids who just can't get enough. I truly believe that people still love to read and ARE reading - why else would Barnes and Noble and amazon.com be doing such land office business? Maybe it's not a question of IF, but how much reading is being done in today's busy world. I say any little bit counts - long live the printed word.
When I read the comment, "I just get sleepy when I read," my first thought was, "then you have no excuse to not read in bed." My husband and I are voracious readers, and we do most of our reading in bed or on the subway. I absolutely refuse to have a television in the bedroom, because it over-stimulates the senses. The only thing that should be stimulating us in our bedroom is each other. ;P
Book readers are alive and well. Really, really.
Proof: www.librarything.com
If someone finds reading boring, then they're reading the wrong thing. SOme may find the classics boring. Some may find commercial fiction boring. The wonderful thing about books is there is indeed a genre out there for everyone, if they care to look.
This is by no means exclusively an American problem, though in my country (South Africa), a terrifying reason for our lack of readers is a ridiculous illiteracy level.
Apart from that, I think people who want to try reading for the first time as adults fear that they've missed the boat...that they don't know what they like and consequently are afraid to find out.
I always have a couple of books going at any given time, and my daughter, who is 23 is the same way. I read to her all the time when she was young, and trips to the bookstore remain a common outing for us. I'm not sure, however whether my 20 year old son is able to read anything not found on a video game!
I've been a reader my whole life - I can remember staying up in my room while my mom was reading to my little sister in the next room, and my mom would keep reading even after my sister fell asleep because she knew I was listening. While performing mundane tasks at work, I listen to audio books. I firmly belive that reading starts as a habit in children. I read at least three books a week - if I don't I go through withdrawal!
This reminds me of the debate we had a few months ago about newspapers. Isn't this more of a commentary of our culture that values many other things over books?
I think it's important to continue reading with and to your children long after they can do it on their own. Mine are now 10 and 13 years old - they read on their own, but we also read books 'together' that they might not be able to get through. I read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy with my son when he was in 4th grade - he has struggled with reading comprehension, but by doing it together he was motivated to keep reading and now reads every day. He is not your typical 'brain' - he's an avid football player and also loves video games. We just always read at our house - as a good friend of mine said, it's not what you read, it's that you DO read. If more people made it a part of their entertainment, and if people who think that the only books worth reading are classics would loosen up a little, I think the recreational reading rate would increase.
In today's world everyone,including the media,lives and dies by a 20 second soundbit,a scan of sites like this and they're back off to the races.Everyone is so busy with their cellphones and Ipods that they rarely even take time to actually even talk to someone much less sit down long enough to read.People don't even read newspapers anymore,let alone a whole actual book!You can't possibly know what is really going on in the world around you that way and you completly miss the gift of possibilities that imagination brings.It's a shame because they don't know what they're missing!
It distresses me that so few people read nowadays. I think it's a sign of the dumbing-down of Americans. When was the last time you were in a crowded library or bookstore?
I love to read, going through abot 25 books a year. Books make you think, they can take you to faraway places and times, teach you, and entertain you.
So my question is this: are these non-readers in the majority of those who've given us our current government officials? Is critical thinking developed through reading, but stale among those who are lazy about reading? Perhaps our schools should wake up!
The man from the AP article who just gets sleepy when he reads might read more books if he could find something that interested him.
My father never read books outside of school until his fifties, when I lent him "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas"...he had never imagined there were books like that, never found something in the written word that captured his interest before. I believe the awesome success of Harry Potter is an indicator that if you can find the right story, the right subject, you can turn anybody into a reader. If the person has a ribald sense of humor, give him a "dirty" book. Fit the reading to the reader and let the habit grow... I think we as bibliophiles have a certain responsibility to infect our non-reading friends with the reading virus. I can not see how this would be a bad thing.
Reading... Without literature, today's society would still be in the dark ages. So why then, do people refuse to pick up a good book every once in a while? Personally, I can't get enough of fiction, science fiction, and fantasy books. I even enjoy making my own stories, though I do not attempt to let others read them because of my shy personality, but with videogames and television taking up so much of everyday life, how are we going to have the imagination necessary to think up next generation's great works of art, literature, or even technological advances?
Writing gives you the chance to express your feelings, your thoughts, the very essence of your soul, and let others make that a part of them. Why waste the time and effort someone put into forging a novel worthy of reading by never looking at it twice, let alone reading it once?
As an administrator for a private university library, I am torn to say, reading books is fast becoming a part of our history, like buggy whips, and bows and arrows. Suffice it to say that while many don't read books that does NOT make us an illiterate society! Far from it, we all continue to read, many voraciously. It's just that the hard copy word on paper is becoming less the target of that source of information.
As teachers and parents we need to continue to foster young readers, then later when they grow older they will return to the ranks of readers. I believe that reading materials such as Harry Potter, Captain Underpants and Sport Illustrated are wonderful vehicles to bridge the gap between early readers and adult readers.
I echo the sadness of others at this statistic. While I am by no means a fast reader (it took me 1 week, people, to read "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows," and that's super fast for me), I am always in the middle of at least a few books that range from medical books, to "classics" such as Jane Austen, to children's literature.
And that's the point I think so many who find reading "boring" miss: there's something out there for everyone! While people do become more seduced by the bright lights and ADD/ADHA behavior of today's media, they seem to forget, perhaps, that anything and everything they're interested in has it's place in the book world. And that's where I find my hope in the Harry Potter series. Many like the story, but don't normally read. So, why not really think about why you like the story: the characters? the magic? the suspence? And then experiment. Read some Tolkein. If you don't like that, then don't feel bad about it! Find something else you might like. There are books for everyone out there. You just have to turn off the TV, take a good look around a bookstore, and crack open something, anything!
I've been teaching middle school reading for more than twenty years. I wanted to read all of your comments to find out if it was "just me", or if many of you also found the one in four stat a sad commentary. So many of your comments sound like my own thoughts -- parents who don't read don't encourage their children to read, reading comic books or Harry Potter - who cares? it's still READING. My reading classes are filled with students who have comprehension problems, so I understand why they don't want to read -- they get no pleasure out of it. I try to encourage them to use their imagination -- to be right there beside the character. It's sad to me that so many people are missing out on the joy of reading. There's something out there for everyone if they'll just look. I love it when a student tells me, "Gee, the book was a lot better than the movie!"
My mother was a school teacher all and read to us constantly. My brother and I read at least one book a week usually two or so. My son and my other brother do not enjoy reading. I think you can encourage your child to read but if its not something they enjoy it just doesn't happen. I don't think you have to read a great literary novel, reading a magazine or a newspaper still gives knowledge.
I have to respond to one of the earlier "Anonymous" comments. What is actually wrong with reading the Patterson, Evanovich or Koontz books out there? Sometimes a person needs a little bit of literary crack if you will. Isn't the whole idea to get people reading, rather than making fun of what they're reading?
It's funny. I cannot even imagine a world without books. I read a book or two a week most weeks. It's the first thing I do in the morning while having my coffee, and the last thing I do before climbing into bed at night. I usually have 3-4 books going at any given time and I read what suits my mood from among them.
I agree with you that in a world of ten second attention spans it's not hard for people to stop reading. However, the magic of the world that is created in your mind as you read is so much better than anything ever on television. I can't imagine wasting five minutes of my time watching sports or, god forbid, a soap opera.
When I got married at twenty three my husband was not much of a reader. I got the bright idea of finding a book with a subject that interested him (he is a gunsmith. I got him an autobiography of a private investigator). From there he went on to discover books about World War II, Pearl Harbor, collecting paper money, and now, although I wouldn't call him a "reader," he definitely reads much more than he did. He says high school ruined reading for him. I remember struggling to read "Grendel" in ninth grade. My mom put a paperclip at the beginning of each chapter so I could mark my progress by removing it. It worked and on occasion I still resort to it when I have a college text that is less than fascinating. Give non-readers an inexpensive book on a subject they love. Just maybe something will click!
I read sometimes. Not rabidly. Not every book is engaging. Just like not every TV show is engaging. But I don't see anything wrong with watching TV instead of reading. It's 2007 we have options now so stop being snobs because you read books. It's really not that remarkable that you choose books over TV.
I work in a public library serving around 25,000 people. Yes, there are still people reading, but I wish I had a dollar for every person who comes in for their 15 DVDs and is back a few days later for another stack. It's gotten to the point where we almost want to thank the patrons that come up with books....
I do find that for the most part, the heaviest DVD borrowers are lower in income. Likewise, a lot of them have behaviors that indicate they are of average or lower intelligence. I don't think they could *never* become interested in reading-but it's lots easier just to pop in a disc and sit back. I don't know what it would take to reach them. What is there that appeals to people who read on a remedial level? Has anyone had success reaching someone in this situation? |
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