It’s worth recalling that mass literacy is only about 300 years old, so the modern culture of private reading is only slightly older than the United States, which is probably itself a consequence of mass literacy - sparked by Luther, Gutenberg, etc. Ironically, today the USA is also probably leading the decline in mass literacy woth a “post-literate president.” Maybe book-reading will eventually become an anachronistic hobby, although even Thomas Jefferson made this dire prophecy too about fiction [1].
“Acoustic representations activated in silent reading are best characterized as inner speech rather than as abstract phonological codes.” [2]
I would be very curious to see stats on what percent of American adults will answer a poll claiming in the affirmative to have read any type of novel cover to cover in the past year.
itchingsphynx · · focus · HN ↗
“Acoustic representations activated in silent reading are best characterized as inner speech rather than as abstract phonological codes.” [2]
1. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/?gift=j9r7avb6p-KY8zdjhsiSZyM-26EN9jpQa5BZoBCHLjE" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-...
2. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03205520" rel="nofollow">https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03205520
claiir · · focus · HN ↗
[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_St...
walrus01 · · focus · HN ↗