I read for several reasons. I like to be entertained and, for this reason, have a deep affection for Stephen King novels. In fact his book Pet Sematary was seminal for me in my early 20s, showing me that reading can be – should be! – fun, not some chore. I read to be challenged with new and big ideas, stuff I might not have thought about, and so devour a lot of science fiction. I still think about Neal Stephenson’s 2015 Seveneves and its depiction of a ruined earth and the grand efforts of the human race to survive and once again flourish. I read to learn more about what is happening to our world with climate change, and so books like The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration and Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, while both incredibly grim, help me to understand what is happening to Earth, what might become of it in the next century, and what I might do to help.
Recently the Washington Post, as part of its Department of Data series, published a piece on reading and books, and while the article delves into much detail about super readers, library usage, and the books we didn’t finish in 2024 – King’s It and the Count of Monte Cristo – I was taken by how little people read. 63% of people read at least one book last year, an improvement from the 54% the WaPo reported in 2023; I guess that is a good thing – but just one book?! – while 11% of the US population read 20+ books in 2024.
Many have written about illiteracy and its impact on on civil society; this 2024 article shares that it’s a “two-front threat to democracy,” rendering “citizens incapable of effective participation in self-government” and dashing “hopes of living the American dream for themselves or their children.” But I am thinking less about illiteracy and more about the act of reading books and the benefits it can bring to people individually and to society as a whole.
A well read populace – more than a book a year, I hope – is good for a lot of reasons. Reading a book can open new worlds to a reader, broadening horizons; in the act of reading, readers can develop empathy, they can grow cognitively, and the best books will challenge the reader and be a conduit to thinking critically. Books and reading allow people to delve deeply into a topic, an idea, and this act of sustained pursuit – slogging through the Count of Monte Cristo! – can develop the kind of well informed, intellectually curious citizenry we want in a thriving democracy.
Sidebar: Very little social media does that, if any. Posts and tweets scratch the surface, offering little depth or context. They are confections, empty calories.
So how do we do this then – how do we get people to read more? Well, school is a critical partner in this work, and I know that today’s teachers have a massive headache/challenge as they battle against the innumerable interruptions that smart phones provide. But I am not a toss-out-the-phone guy; they are very much a part of society, like the TV was when I was growing up, and I think that they can be used effectively in schools for a variety of educational tasks. There just needs to be good policy that flows down from the district to the schools and that is consistently implemented; ideally that policy is developed with the input of all stakeholders, including parents and students.
Last few thoughts: Our library system is an underused resource and can be a spark that lights many reading flames. I love the big, bold programs that some city library systems have undertaken, for example, with Seattle Reads and One Book, One Chicago. But what about monthly neighborhood book clubs? How does each community incentivize those to happen? There are summer reading programs, like the New York Public Library’s Summer Reading Challenge, and Dolly Parton deserves sainthood, with her Imagination Library program, which sends free books to children from birth to age five. Also be sure to sign on to World Book Night, which happens April 23.
There is a lot happening when it comes to reading – but what happens at adulthood when that youthful enthusiasm wanes?