reading

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To Turn Boys Into Readers, Gross Them Out

Publishers embrace books about farts, boogers, blood

(Newser) - Young boys, who trail far behind their female peers as readers, are reversing that trend with help from publishers who seek to exploit their love for everything gross. The Wall Street Journal examines the wave of children's’ titles rife with farts, boogers, blood, and flesh-eating bacteria—and talks with some...

Kindle Is King of the Market —But It's a Small Market

Amazon's electronic reader is up against tough demographics

(Newser) - After about 9 months on the market, how goes the Kindle? No official sales figures are out for Amazon's electronic reader, but Liz Gunnison of Portfolio tries to get a sense of things. If you were expecting it to ignite a revolution in reading, keep dreaming. Amazon has likely sold...

Does Surfing Equal Reading?
Does Surfing Equal Reading?
Jul 27, 2008 2:34 PM CDT

Does Surfing Equal Reading?

Experts debate whether kids' online time is as educational as hitting the books

(Newser) - As kids spend more time on the internet and less time reading books, a debate is raging over whether online reading is as educational as the traditional kind, the New York Times reports. While the Web allows readers to quickly gobble up multiple perspectives and information, some experts worry that...

Online Readers Have No Attention Span
Online Readers Have No Attention Span
analysis
Jun 14, 2008 6:30 PM CDT

Online Readers Have No Attention Span

So writers serve it up fast and simple, with lists and links

(Newser) - Web readers are fidgety, so writers have to serve up the goods fast, Michael Agger writes in Slate. For example:
  • Online readers are “selfish, lazy, and ruthless,” according to theorist Jakob Nielsen.
  • They are informavores hunting for information at all costs.
  • They like text short, scannable, and occasionally
...

Search Engines: How They're Reshaping Your Brain

Is faster thinking always better?

(Newser) - Although he’s thrilled with all the time he saves using the Internet for research and awed by the vast intellectual opportunities available to every web surfer, Nicholas Carr is a bit disconcerted that he no longer has the patience for reading books or long articles. With his netizen mind...

Bored at Work? Site Disguises Classic Lit

Readatwork.com lets you fool the boss

(Newser) - Business world got you down? Want to escape into a classic poem or short story? The New Zealand Book Council has made a website to help you: ReadatWork.com. The site brings up a fake Windows desktop with folders and PowerPoint files, the Wall Street Journal reports. Click on them,...

10 Easy Breezy Summer Reads
 10 Easy Breezy Summer Reads 
May 28, 2008 12:00 PM CDT

10 Easy Breezy Summer Reads

Mostly light new literary fare from the Devil Wears Prada scribe and others

(Newser) - The perfect summer read is like a breathmint: light, refreshing, and available for purchase at the airport. Cosmopolitan book editor John Searles dishes his top 10 titles  of the season to MSNBC.
  1. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: a family tell-all—from the dog’s POV
...

Depressed Dads Make Kids Less Literate

Sad fathers don't read as much to babies, whose vocabs suffer

(Newser) - About 10% of new fathers show signs of clinical depression—a rate twice that of other men—and that can have a noticeable effect on their children, an American Psychiatric Association study finds. Sad dads interact less with their progeny, which means less bedtime reading and a smaller vocabulary by...

Don't Get Comfy, Harry Potter

Dr. Seuss, EB White win popularity contest over Rowling

(Newser) - Both are fantasists who've sold zillions of books, but in a recent poll of American children, the classic wins out: Dr. Seuss' works are more popular than JK Rowling's. Three million-plus kids weighed in on an educational software company's website, and Rowling's Harry Potter books trail works by EB White,...

Dems' Advice on Reading: 'Blah Blah Blah'

Errant email from Pelosi's office offers talking points

(Newser) - Your Democratic congressional representative may do well to avoid the advice from Nancy Pelosi's office regarding “Read Across America” day next Monday, writes Washington Post blogger Mary Ann Akers. An email on how to deal with the big day urges Dems to stress the damage done to education programs...

Eating Isn't Only Healthy Benefit of Family Dinner

Structured, deep interaction at meals yields adjusted kids

(Newser) - Studies in the 1990s showed that regular family dinners made kids less likely to do drugs, smoke or have psychological problems, but a closer look now finds that it's what goes on during those meals—strong verbal interaction, parents showing interest in their children—that really counts in the youngsters'...

JK Rowling to Speak at Harvard Commencement

Hogwarts creator will get honorary degree

(Newser) - Harvard students will get a Hogwarts send-off at their spring commencement this year, reports the Crimson, with Harry Potter author JK Rowling as the keynote speaker.  "Perhaps no one in our time has done more than JK Rowling to inspire young people to experience the excitement and the...

Is Our Children Reading?
Is Our Children Reading?
Nov 19, 2007 12:46 PM CST

Is Our Children Reading?

No, and neither are teenagers and adults, new study finds

(Newser) - As far as young people are concerned, books are so 20th century. Reading's popularity has fallen as gadgets have taken over modern life, according to a new National Endowment for the Arts report. Only a third of high school seniors read at a proficient level. “And proficiency is not...

Amazon's E-Book Gamble Gets Big Play

Newsweek looks at changes $399 device could wreak on reading

(Newser) - News that Amazon would debut its new Kindle e-book leaked earlier this week, and a Newsweek cover story has the full hype on what Jeff Bezos and company hope to achieve with it. "This isn't a device, it's a service," Bezos says of of the Kindle, pointing to...

Readers Hurt by Paper Cuts
Readers Hurt
by Paper Cuts
Sep 3, 2007 4:40 PM CDT

Readers Hurt by Paper Cuts

Newspapers dropping book reviews helps confine ideas to a 'literary ghetto'

(Newser) - Newspapers are under financial pressure, and one of the first things to go is often the book reviews. But author and editor Steve Wasserman thinks that's a serious problem. “Civilization is built on a foundation of books,” he declares in a polemic in CJR, and  stripping their pages...

What CEOs Read Before They Lead
What CEOs Read Before They Lead
Jul 22, 2007 1:42 PM CDT

What CEOs Read Before They Lead

Business leaders find refuge and resource in luxury book collections

(Newser) - Scanning the personal libraries of CEOs, tech gurus and venture geniuses reveals not only what they read but how they think, the Times reports. The well-heeled have taken to housing their exorbitant collections in luxurious, custom-built, private spaces. And if you read between the lines, the literature tends to reflect...

Teens Having Safer Sex, Fewer Babies

Record-low birth rate part of positive trends in kids' health

(Newser) - High school students are having less sex than kids in the past, and more are using condoms. The teen birth rate is at an all-time low, and the proportion of teens completing high school is up. A new federal report looks at the condition of Americans under 18 and finds...

Harry May Not Cast Spell on Young Readers

Series' impact on number of kids who read for pleasure is negligible

(Newser) - Part of the "Harry Potter" series' claim to fame has been the way it reintroduced kids to reading for pleasure, but some educators are skeptical. The percentage of children who read for fun decreases every year as they age, with no measurable impact from Harry. Still, teachers and parents...

Publisher Fights Lefty Bias in Kids' Lit

Is this rabbit a communist?

(Newser) - A California publishing exec is doing his darnedest to combat the insidious leftward tilt of most children's books. Fed up with gay penguins and anti-business Loraxes, Eric Jackson started his own publishing house. His first release, "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!"—about a kids'...

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