Comments on: Read Broadly, Read Deeply, and Read Copiously http://www.wunderlin.com/blog/2008/12/22/read-broadly-read-deeply-and-read-copiously/ Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:50:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Patty Clark http://www.wunderlin.com/blog/2008/12/22/read-broadly-read-deeply-and-read-copiously/comment-page-1/#comment-79 Patty Clark Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:36:26 +0000 http://www.wunderlin.com/?p=223#comment-79 The statistics that you mention are very alarming. Universities, federal agencies, foundations and private corporations continue to document the decrease in reading not just in the U.S., but worldwide. A report entitled To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence, released in November 2007 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), showed correlations between the decline of reading and social phenomena as diverse as income disparity, exercise, and voting. As can be expected, there is no consensus on what this means or what to do about it. As a college research librarian, literacy volunteer and a daily reader, I appreciate your reminder to colleagues to read, read, and read! And I would add my own suggestion: share your books, discuss books and read to others. Every community has nursing homes or shelters and would welcome someone coming in to read with individuals that cannot. http://www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html The statistics that you mention are very alarming. Universities, federal agencies, foundations and private corporations continue to document the decrease in reading not just in the U.S., but worldwide. A report entitled To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence, released in November 2007 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), showed correlations between the decline of reading and social phenomena as diverse as income disparity, exercise, and voting. As can be expected, there is no consensus on what this means or what to do about it. As a college research librarian, literacy volunteer and a daily reader, I appreciate your reminder to colleagues to read, read, and read! And I would add my own suggestion: share your books, discuss books and read to others. Every community has nursing homes or shelters and would welcome someone coming in to read with individuals that cannot. http://www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html

]]> By: Gustav H Beere http://www.wunderlin.com/blog/2008/12/22/read-broadly-read-deeply-and-read-copiously/comment-page-1/#comment-78 Gustav H Beere Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:40:09 +0000 http://www.wunderlin.com/?p=223#comment-78 I have found Amazon's Kindle to dramatically increase the amount I read of all types of materials, and I was already a heavy reader. Happy Holidays! Gustav Beerel I have found Amazon’s Kindle to dramatically increase the amount I read of all types of materials, and I was already a heavy reader.

Happy Holidays!

Gustav Beerel

]]> By: John Mayhugh http://www.wunderlin.com/blog/2008/12/22/read-broadly-read-deeply-and-read-copiously/comment-page-1/#comment-77 John Mayhugh Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:51:21 +0000 http://www.wunderlin.com/?p=223#comment-77 Interesting to see the reading statistics that you quoted. For me it’s rather difficult to believe so I tried to find out more. All of this is credited to a study by a publishing company called The Jenkins Group. The study is not reproduced anywhere that I could find, so I have no idea of sample size, methodology, etc. While the numbers are quoted in quite a few places, the study itself is probably no more credible than a piece of market research that I might perform. Just doing a quick search, I found a study by the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) that showed 56.5% claimed to have read a book within the past twelve months, with rates varying by age group. This study is several years old and reading rates are certainly on the decline (which is the real problem). But the Jenkins Group numbers don’t seem worth repeating. http://www.nea.gov/pub/readingatrisk.pdf Interesting to see the reading statistics that you quoted. For me it’s rather difficult to believe so I tried to find out more.

All of this is credited to a study by a publishing company called The Jenkins Group. The study is not reproduced anywhere that I could find, so I have no idea of sample size, methodology, etc. While the numbers are quoted in quite a few places, the study itself is probably no more credible than a piece of market research that I might perform.

Just doing a quick search, I found a study by the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) that showed 56.5% claimed to have read a book within the past twelve months, with rates varying by age group. This study is several years old and reading rates are certainly on the decline (which is the real problem). But the Jenkins Group numbers don’t seem worth repeating.

http://www.nea.gov/pub/readingatrisk.pdf

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