Reading is Good; Reading is in Trouble
On Diane Rehm’s NPR show this morning, Emma Walton Hamilton, the author Raising Bookworms, was being interviewed. Seemed to have lots of good ideas and stats–which were a little hard to take notes on while I was driving. But here are some that stuck in mind–People who are readers have been shown to have many other socially redeemable features, such as being voters, funding Good Causes, going to plays and museums, etc. (Don’t know if this would be cause, effect, or just a personality trait in the same basket?) Also, readers’ brains have been shown to be different than others’ who watch mainly television, which stimulates the flight-or-fight section of the brain.
But, the national percentage of readers is dropping, and has been slowly since TV was introduced, let alone electronics. She said, I think, that 50% of the American public reads at an 8th-grade level, and that 80% (?!) of people graduating from college never again pick up a book.
Also a good bit on read-early-and-often to your kids. She said some studies even show that babies that have been read to in utero can recognize hearing the same story after they are born, even read by a different voice.
You can listen to the story online at the Diane Rehm Show website.
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