NEW YORK - The reading of books is on the decline in America, despite Harry Potter and the best efforts of Oprah Winfrey.
A report released Thursday by the National Endowment for the Arts says the number of non-reading adults increased by more than 17 million between 1992 and 2002.
Only 47 percent of American adults read “literature” (poems, plays, narrative fiction) in 2002, a drop of 7 points from a decade earlier. Those reading any book at all in 2002 fell to 57 percent, down from 61 percent.
NEA chairman Dana Gioia, himself a poet, called the findings shocking and a reason for grave concern.
“We have a lot of functionally literate people who are no longer engaged readers,” Gioia said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This isn’t a case of ‘Johnny Can’t Read,’ but ‘Johnny Won’t Read.”’
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5389382I doubt these statistics. I would say more in line with the voting rate of 39%.
Since I'm complaining about stats, I still say 'they' are lying about the smoking rate at 27%. I'm in San Jose which is 'supposed' to be a higher education, healthy life style... and in my informal viewing sampling I say the actual is much higher.
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