TOM AND Huck, Gatsby and Daisy, and Ishmael and Ahab are in trouble. Their worlds are losing readers. Adults and teenagers are plugged into iPods, BlackBerries, and plain old television. People are so busy and wired, in fact, that reading is becoming an endangered activity, according to a new compilation of data released by the National Endowment for the Arts. America should not sit idly by as it loses passionate readers.
"While we are reading, we are all Don Quixote," the American aphorist Mason Cooley wrote, summing up the yearning, adventurousness, and imaginative concentration that reading commands. Readers gain knowledge, empathy, and a greater sense of self.
And while it's true that the economy demands tech-savvy workers, addiction to gadgets isn't a skill. Reading is. Practically speaking, strong readers do better in school, leading to employment success. And research from the endowment suggests that readers are more likely to participate in civic life.
But people are spending less time and money on books. And the endowment points to US Department of Education figures showing that for three decades, "17-year-olds have not sustained improvements in reading scores."
As endowment chair Dana Gioia writes, "It is no longer reasonable to debate whether the problem exists. It is now time to become more committed to solving it or face the consequences."
But short of having Oprah pick a book a week or compelling J.K. Rowling to crank out more Harry Potter books, how does the country recruit and train passionate readers?
There are various but limited answers.
The American Library Association promotes reading with celebrity posters and issues lists of books that may appeal to "reluctant young adult readers." But these efforts can't match the massive marketing that propels electronic media.
Last week, one marketplace idea came to giant bookseller Amazon.com. The company released its Kindle e-reader, an appealing gadget that lets users quickly download and read books, newspapers, and magazines in an attempt to make "reading as great as it can be," according to
As for the endowment, it is only using this report to raise the issue of reading's demise. It notes that "reading frequently for pleasure is a behavior to be cultivated with the same zeal as academic achievement, financial or job performance, and global competitiveness." But the endowment offers no recommendations, essentially putting out a casting call for inspired leadership. It is a call that should be heeded by parents, educators, members of Congress, the next president, and anyone else who can put fire into the words: "The books I love are . . ."
