Read a Book!

This is profoundly depressing: a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll finds that one in four Americans read no books at all last year.

I'm a new media person. I spend far more time than is good for me reading online. I read newsletters. I read email. I read the occasional newspaper (all right, I should do more of that, but I do get much of my news via radio and online). But I also read books.

I read to learn. I enjoy reading history and biography.

I read for the fun of it. I read Harry Potter and classic mysteries. I also podcast about classic mysteries.

I read a lot of books. And I re-read them.

The study says that, excluding that one in four who hadn't read any books, the usual number read was seven.

My wife is a school librarian. I think she'll agree that too many educators think books have been supplanted by online materials. That is so wrong.

Yes, we can (and sometimes do) read books online. But we also have to make sure that the art - and pleasure - of settling down in a chair or in bed with a good book doesn't disappear.

(Hat tip: MediaBistro)