A recent poll found that one in four American adults didn't read a book at all in the past year:
One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.
The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read any, the usual number read was seven.
My daughters read, my sons-in-law read, my grandchildren read--even the four-year-old reads.
I wonder how many of the people who don't read CAN'T read. Did they include that in their survey? It can't be much fun to sit down with a 500-page novel if you're functionally illiterate.