Readers in short supply in the U.S.

The Globe and Mail

Only 47 per cent of American adults read “literature” (poems, plays, narrative fiction) in 2002, a drop of seven percentage points from a decade earlier. Those reading any book at all in 2002 fell to 57 per cent, down from 61 per cent.

NEA chairman Dana Gioia, himself a poet, called the findings shocking and a reason for grave concern.

“We have a lot of functionally literate people who are no longer engaged readers,” Mr. Gioia said in an interview with Associated Press. “This isn't a case of ‘Johnny Can't Read,' but ‘Johnny Won't Read.”'

The likely culprits, according to the report: television, movies and the Internet.

Of course...there's a good chance no one will read this to know this anyways. Oh, well....