According to an analysis released by the National Endowment for the Arts and reported on in USA Today, despite rising education levels Americans of every age are reading less and less for pleasure these days. The study of decades of data on our reading habits shows that Americans in every age group are reading less. The NEA believes the trend to be cause for some concern, citing the outcome of the analysis as an extremely important social issue, with more people turning away from books, turning to popular culture and consequently becoming less "socially and civically engaged."

The report suggests that the demands of today's busy lifestyle and the rise of other forms of entertainment have had a negative impact on recreational reading for millions of Americans, showing that only 38% of adults surveyed said they had spent time reading a book for pleasure the previous day, that 65% of college freshmen reported they read little or nothing for pleasure, and that the number of 13-year-olds saying they read for fun "almost every day," declined 5% over the past few decades.

The statistics prompted NEA chairman Dana Gioia to remark: "People are looking for things to do that aren't dumb. I don't think that Americans are dumber than before, but I do believe our public culture is."

Fortunately, audiobooks, it seems, are coming to the rescue for growing numbers of Americans. The Audio Publisher's Association makes the observation that more and more people are seeing audiobooks as a way to "read" more while multi-tasking with other lifestyle activities such as traveling and commuting, working out, relaxing, cooking, doing household chores, gardening... and the list goes on.

The APA further states that children's audiobooks also form a large part of the market, since many families choose them for in-car entertainment or an at-home hobby, as well as many teachers and schools using them for educational tools, recognizing some obvious benefits to students. Audiobooks can introduce students to books above their reading level, can be used to model good interpretive reading and reading aloud, teach critical listening, expand vocabulary, expose the student to new dialects, accents, and literary styles as well as act as a conversation starter for important topics of discussion for families who listen together.

The exponential growth of the audiobook market combined with the rocketing new listening technologies is enabling us to retain and strengthen literacy in our culture as easily as popping on our earphones.

How about you? Heard any good books lately?