Knowledge is power

Reading is plummeting according to “Reading is a Vice,” an article in the Atlantic:

“The most recent Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, from 2022, found that fewer than half of Americans had read a single book in the previous 12 months; only 38 percent had read a novel or short story.”

The article argues that reading felt more edgy and subversive back when folks read every day.

These days people may view reading as boring or a chore since it’s positioned similarly as eating plate of plain mushrooms and squash. Do it because it’s good for you. Blech.

Americans say: F that, pass the cholesterol. In this case, fire up the Netflix.

It’s a good argument, but it could be better.

Three words: knowledge is power.

Reading is subversive. It establishes a locus of power in the reader. It creates optionality, better known as freedom. It’s one of the only things we have as humans that transcends our baseline condition of futility.

It’s certainly not a good thing that Americans don’t read anymore. Especially in the age of AI, it’s hard to trust what we glean online. The thoughts are recycled. However that paper-bound book just might be a portal to power.

Here’s to reading far more than one book this year!