Reading in this nation has been falling off for quite sometime -- even in the face of the Harry Potter phonenom. According to an article on CNN.com, one in four people didn't read a single book last year. The average number of books read was four books.
Being a book lover, I wonder about someone who has only read four books in a year. If the books are romance or fiction, the number seems too small. If the books are nonfiction, then that seems a little more likely, since those are generally larger and become slower reads.
According to the article, people in the South read more than other regions of the country. However; Democrats and Liberals read more than Republicans and Conservatives. That is something I found very interesting. First, I thought most of the South was made up of Conservatives, so how do Liberals come out on top? Second, it makes sense that Liberals read more than Conservatives. There has been an anti-intellectual "movement" (for lack of a better term) in this country for years.
Let's explore that.
Since when has it ever been a bad thing to be smart? Since when has discussions of philosphy, religion and politics ever hurt? It seems as if people don't want to be smart. That might explain some of the book reading dropoff -- although, I think 160 cable channels and video games need to shoulder some of the blame.
Well, I guess it really don't make me no never mind if the rest of the country doesn't enjoy reading as much as I do. Currently, I'm reading one book on CD, another book at home, one that I read at lunch and one that stays in the car for when I have to wait. I keep my local library humming with activity.
Feel free to join me.
God Bless
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