Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Splash du Jour: Wednesday

In 2002, the National Endowment for the Arts released a survey indicating that fewer than half of adult Americans had read any work of fiction or poetry in the preceding year – not even detective novels, bodice-ripper romances, or the “rapture” novels based on the Book of Revelation. Only 57% had read a non-fiction book. In this increasingly a-literate America, not only the enjoyment of reading but critical thinking itself is at risk.
-- Susan Jacoby, The Age of American Unreason (2008) --


Have a great Wednesday!
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2 comments:

Alyce said...

I love the juxtaposition of that quote with "Have a great Wednesday!" :) That is really a terrible statistic, and one that is hard for me to believe because so much reading happens in my house.

Anonymous said...

How very sad that people are reading less and less. Today's youth are so completely into frenetic video games and texting, Facebook and the like that to stop, sit quietly and read is something they cannot even imagine doing. How awful that they should think it a waste of their time!
Sad times ahead...
C.