Are We REALLY Reading Less?

Today in the Wall Street journal, the Numbers Guy asks Are Americans Really Reading Less? Here is an excerpt.

Fewer Americans are reading, the National Endowment for the Arts concluded in a report last year entitled, “To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence.” This prompted hand-wringing, including a New Yorker article that asked, “What will life be like if people stop reading?”

But the study has also prompted criticism of its statistical methods. Charges lodged against the NEA include sloppy presentation of data and an arbitrary choice of reference year that combine to overstate the decline in reading skills. Others criticize the NEA for using numbers that omit computer-based reading, and failing to demonstrate that less book reading has dire consequences.

Read the rest here. Then come back and let me know what you think. Are we reading less?