What’s behind the decline of reading?

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What’s behind the decline of reading?

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Data from Gallup and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Americans are reading fewer books and spending less time reading than ever.

There’s been reporting on college kids struggling to finish longer texts. And last month, in a viral post, one user lamented their loss of concentration for reading, which led to a larger online discourse about how to approach books again.

Brittany is joined by Elaine Castillo, author of the book How to Read Now, and Abdullah Shihipar, Research Associate at the People, Place and Health collective at Brown University, to get into why reading books is on the decline, the battle for our attention, and what people can do to get their reading grooves back.

And if you’re looking for your next good book – check out the Book of the Day podcast from NPR.

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This episode was produced by Liam McBain, with additional support from Barton Girdwood. It was edited by Jasmine Romero. Our Supervising Producer is Barton Girdwood. Our Executive Producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni.