So much despair here! I understand your worries, but I just don't think these much talked-of surveys tell the whole story (so to speak). And since I'm not much for social media, BookTok doesn't trouble me that much. That's the thing about social media. It's like HAL 9000, only less hard to turn off. The solution to it is to pay it no attention. I believe everyone will eventually realize this and it will go the way of the dinosaur.
I wish those of you who are troubled by stats indicating a decline in reading could come do my library job for a while. People DO still read and many of them read deeply. Sure, we stock romantasy and dark academia, but there's plenty of thought-provoking stuff on our shelves--and readers who read it. I have great conversations about books with patrons and coworkers all the time, and also with friends. I'm in two book clubs, one of which is reading The Master and Margarita and the other two Shakespeare plays. My college-aged kids are both readers, my son into nonfiction and my daughter into fiction. There are plenty of people like us out there. Maybe we're just hard to scare up. Seriously, go to the library. You'll all feel better.
As the head of podcasts for Persuasion, Leonora, you should be the target of my snarky but heartfelt comment, but, instead, I thank you for modeling digital literacy by offering up nicely accessible and edited transcripts. The proliferation of podcasts that do not provide a similar service is part of the trend toward returning us to a pre-literate oral state of nature.
As the consumer of more than two dozen thoughtful substack and news outlets, I do not have the time or interest for listening to the dross of hours of chitchat and interruptions to see if there is a horse buried in all of that….
Podcasts without usable transcripts are a greater assault on literacy than BookTok (of which I remain blissfully ignorant).
Once again a Persuasion article puts into words a frustrating reality that doesn't seem to get enough attention.
What literature is everyone reading right now? I'm reading "The Sot-Weed Factor" by John Barth, and am very impressed. It's funny, insightful, and absurd -- a winning combo for me.
Great idea, Rachel! In addition to the books I mentioned in my comment above, I'm reading The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor (third in a nonfiction trilogy) and the Fagles translation of The Odyssey as an audiobook read by Ian McKellan. I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures, which was fun.
Children first develop an interest in the mysteries of the written word when an adult or older child reads to them. Are we still reading to our children?
This is a good piece and needs more attention. I have a fill Kindle library of queue reads that if I never buy another book would cover me for years given my reading time available.
There are genres I like and I go to Amazon and Kindle to see what is available. The placement algorithms suck. They absolutely do not reflect my interests, but clearly there is a cabal of market control going on to push titles that the cabal wants to push. And most of it is female authors and a lot of it is slop.
The quality of everything has crashed and continues to decline. There are two root causes. The feminization of the population to put more low talent, low-capability people in management positions of product and service companies, corporate consolidation where there is not enough competition as a few massive companies own the market and the supply chain.
We thought the internet would open up the market and break the monopoly of the publishing industry, but it is the opposite.
This is a great comment. I don't have much time to read, but the only thing I put on my Kindle is stuff that was recognized as a classic before 1975.
Of course, the whole Kindle thing is another issue. For people like me who were prolific readers over 50 years ago, the Kindle is probably innocuous. But there is evidence accumulating out there that young people who read even great books on digital devices get less out of those books.
Of course, this anticipates the question of who is reading this column? Substack? And who writes comments like mine, and why? I have a sneaking suspicion that all social media is just another more modern way to keep us "masses" occupied and distracted from understanding how we are harnessed and manipulated for the power and wealth of a few. How does this differ from the 5 minute record? Are we really any different than serfs were under the feudal systems of Europe? Or citizens of Rome? Look at the recent "conservative" changes in America, and ponder what new realities lie in store for the unread, the undereducated. That is, if we read at all.
So much despair here! I understand your worries, but I just don't think these much talked-of surveys tell the whole story (so to speak). And since I'm not much for social media, BookTok doesn't trouble me that much. That's the thing about social media. It's like HAL 9000, only less hard to turn off. The solution to it is to pay it no attention. I believe everyone will eventually realize this and it will go the way of the dinosaur.
I wish those of you who are troubled by stats indicating a decline in reading could come do my library job for a while. People DO still read and many of them read deeply. Sure, we stock romantasy and dark academia, but there's plenty of thought-provoking stuff on our shelves--and readers who read it. I have great conversations about books with patrons and coworkers all the time, and also with friends. I'm in two book clubs, one of which is reading The Master and Margarita and the other two Shakespeare plays. My college-aged kids are both readers, my son into nonfiction and my daughter into fiction. There are plenty of people like us out there. Maybe we're just hard to scare up. Seriously, go to the library. You'll all feel better.
As the head of podcasts for Persuasion, Leonora, you should be the target of my snarky but heartfelt comment, but, instead, I thank you for modeling digital literacy by offering up nicely accessible and edited transcripts. The proliferation of podcasts that do not provide a similar service is part of the trend toward returning us to a pre-literate oral state of nature.
As the consumer of more than two dozen thoughtful substack and news outlets, I do not have the time or interest for listening to the dross of hours of chitchat and interruptions to see if there is a horse buried in all of that….
Podcasts without usable transcripts are a greater assault on literacy than BookTok (of which I remain blissfully ignorant).
I can never decide what to call it. I think that we are in a post-literate world that has returned us to a pre-literate state.
Once again a Persuasion article puts into words a frustrating reality that doesn't seem to get enough attention.
What literature is everyone reading right now? I'm reading "The Sot-Weed Factor" by John Barth, and am very impressed. It's funny, insightful, and absurd -- a winning combo for me.
Great idea, Rachel! In addition to the books I mentioned in my comment above, I'm reading The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor (third in a nonfiction trilogy) and the Fagles translation of The Odyssey as an audiobook read by Ian McKellan. I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures, which was fun.
I doubt that there are many or any podcast heads as literate and articulate Leonora. Bravo! A joy to read despite the depressing subject.
Children first develop an interest in the mysteries of the written word when an adult or older child reads to them. Are we still reading to our children?
This is a good piece and needs more attention. I have a fill Kindle library of queue reads that if I never buy another book would cover me for years given my reading time available.
There are genres I like and I go to Amazon and Kindle to see what is available. The placement algorithms suck. They absolutely do not reflect my interests, but clearly there is a cabal of market control going on to push titles that the cabal wants to push. And most of it is female authors and a lot of it is slop.
The quality of everything has crashed and continues to decline. There are two root causes. The feminization of the population to put more low talent, low-capability people in management positions of product and service companies, corporate consolidation where there is not enough competition as a few massive companies own the market and the supply chain.
We thought the internet would open up the market and break the monopoly of the publishing industry, but it is the opposite.
This is a great comment. I don't have much time to read, but the only thing I put on my Kindle is stuff that was recognized as a classic before 1975.
Of course, the whole Kindle thing is another issue. For people like me who were prolific readers over 50 years ago, the Kindle is probably innocuous. But there is evidence accumulating out there that young people who read even great books on digital devices get less out of those books.
Your misogyny is showing, Frank.
Sure Brucey. I do sometimes dislike chicks like you.
Of course, this anticipates the question of who is reading this column? Substack? And who writes comments like mine, and why? I have a sneaking suspicion that all social media is just another more modern way to keep us "masses" occupied and distracted from understanding how we are harnessed and manipulated for the power and wealth of a few. How does this differ from the 5 minute record? Are we really any different than serfs were under the feudal systems of Europe? Or citizens of Rome? Look at the recent "conservative" changes in America, and ponder what new realities lie in store for the unread, the undereducated. That is, if we read at all.