Fewer People Are Reading for Fun, Study Finds

From 2003 to 2023, the share of Americans who read for pleasure fell 40 percent, a sharp decline that is part of a continuing downward trend.

...People may draw particular benefits from thinking deeply about what they read and talking about it with others.

It is not the case that “I can sit you down and give you a Jane Austen novel, you read it, and you come out with better mental health,” said James Carney, an associate professor at the London Interdisciplinary School and the lead author of a 2022 study on reading and mental health.

But discussing and reflecting on fiction — as opposed to just reading it — was linked to better mental health and social capabilities, including the ability to perceive nuances in interpersonal relationships, said Dr. Carney, who was not involved in the new study. Engaging with many forms of nonfiction would probably have similar benefits, he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/well/reading-pleasure-decline-study.html?smid=em-share

BBC Radio 4 - Take Four Books, Rachel Kushner

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002h9n8

31 Novels Coming This Summer

Taylor Jenkins Reid heads to space, Megan Abbott climbs a pyramid (scheme) and Gary Shteyngart channels a 10-year-old. Plus queer vampires, a professor in hell and an actress's revenge.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/books/review/new-fiction-books-summer-2025.html?smid=em-share

Bad news for democracies

From The New York Times: Thinking Is Becoming a Luxury Good That’s bad news for our democracies.

...An electorate that has lost the capacity for long-form thought will be more tribal, less rational, largely uninterested in facts or even matters of historical record, moved more by vibes than cogent argument and open to fantastical ideas and bizarre conspiracy theories. If that sounds familiar, it may be a sign of how far down this path the West has already traveled...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/opinion/smartphones-literacy-inequality-democracy.html?smid=em-share