Books Are, Like, So Last Century

On the same day Amazon releases its new e-book reader, a report is released stating Americans are reading less books, and we’re worse off for it. Coincidence?

Yeah, probably.

The problem with people not reading books has nothing to do with a need for an e-reader. In fact, the fun (pleasure…) of a book is its tactility, its dog-eared pages, the notes in the margins, you can throw it on the bed, etc. I don’t see e-readers replacing books any time soon.

As far as people not reading for fun, I have no idea. But presumably, at least in part, it’s the Internet, stupid, and the kind of transmedia storytelling that’s sucking up so many of the limited “what to do for fun” cycles of each day. Narratives are not incredibly rich, and it takes a lot of time to take it all in.

That reminds me. Heroes is on tonight…