We aren’t just reading less; we are getting less out of what we read
As we stumble through the 2020s, there is a growing worry among literary folk that Westerners in general and Americans in particular are reading less and less.
While it seems ironic, and perhaps self-defeating, to address this phenomenon in print as opposed to, say, on a podcast, or even more succinctly, with a string of emojis, I will do my best.
The question is then, are we reading less? The answer is, I’m afraid, “yes” and “no,” and in both cases, the explanations of “why?” and “what does it mean?” are the bearers of bad news.
See the rest of this piece in my column at the Epoch Times.