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07-08-2004, 10:44 AM
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You probably don't think I'm a very nice guy...
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"I've always been a firm believer in the three R's: reading TV guide....
...riting to TV guide.....and renewing TV guide"
NEW YORK - The reading of books is on the decline in America, despite Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the best efforts of Oprah Winfrey. A report released Thursday by the National Endowment for the Arts says the number of non-reading adults increased by more than 17 million between 1992 and 2002.
Only 47 percent of American adults read "literature" (poems, plays, narrative fiction) in 2002, a drop of 7 points from a decade earlier. Those reading any book at all in 2002 fell to 57 percent, down from 61 percent.
NEA chairman Dana Gioia, himself a poet, called the findings shocking and a reason for grave concern.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...eading_at_risk |
07-08-2004, 11:37 AM
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Woody wore Sambas
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I'm very scared.....I was going to post the same article. People of mediocre intelligence don't like to read because it forces them to use their brain.....
I read a lot, but I mostly read non-fiction. I could give a rat's ass about most new "literary" works and poetry.
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07-08-2004, 11:42 AM
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strung out
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stxbuck:
Exactly. Many great non-fiction books are being written, but very few fiction works are coming out that will someday be in an American Literature anthology. Most fiction is very bubble-gum today.
Really, from the last fifty years, how many classics are there in literature? I love it that many bookstores separate "literature" from "fiction."
My guesses as to who American Lit readers of the future will read:
Pynchon, DeLillo, Gaddis, Morrison (if only Beloved), O'Brien. . . I am already running out of names. . .
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07-08-2004, 11:45 AM
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misunderestimated
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Tibor,
Thanks for only giving the shortened version of the story. I didn't want to read the whole thing, and probably wouldn't have made it to the end of the article, before becoming disinterested, and moving on to the next post. 
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07-08-2004, 11:46 AM
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Inside the Matrix
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i dont read
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07-08-2004, 11:57 AM
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Banned
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Literature, smiterature.....Who cares about poetry? Yuch.
All I want is my Sporting news and any Stephen Ambrose book.
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07-08-2004, 12:17 PM
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I wipe my ass with wolverine fur
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Those are pretty sad numbers. As a country, I believe that we're getting dumber every year. It amazes me how many people can't read and comprehend an article, textbook or memo.
What amazes me even more is how many people I see at work or in my MBA classes who can't write a good paper or assemble a meaningful presentation.
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"You can go become a tiger, a bear, a lion, or any other animal that is a mascot at schools across this country, but there is only one place in this world you can become a Buckeye." - Woody Hayes
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07-08-2004, 12:25 PM
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Throwback
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