Why Are We Becoming "Aliterate?"

I've been reading chapters of Mark Bauerlein's slighly pessimistic book, The Dumbest Generation, and one of the better chapters brought up the idea that Americans are becoming "aliterate" instead of illiterate. This reminds me of Twain's famous quote, "A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." Although some of Bauerlein's ideas tend to be debatable, in my opinion, this one is the exception. People, not just kids and teens, are not reading like they used to, and I was one of these people just two years ago.

I am ashamed to say that as an English instructor, I only read about three or four books a year back in 2007. However, I was lucky enough to pick up King's On Writing, and I was struck by his ability to read about 60 books a year. I came up with my own goal to read twenty-four books that next year, and I read twenty-six.

Although not every book was a classic or one I would recommend to friends, I felt like with each book, my brain was beginning to use a few millimeters more than before. I began to think differently about situations and apply some of the ideas I found in those books to my own theories and beliefs. What helped even more was challenging myself to try new authors. Up until a few years ago, I had never read a Carl Hiaasen book or even wanted to bother with Dickens again, but I tried both of them, and I found a new appreciation for the latter of the two because I never gave the book my full attention.

Books can be so much more than a story on paper. They connect us with other people as well. I love the ding that goes off in my head when I see someone reading one of my favorites at the beach or hearing a student interpreting something we both read in a totally (and valid) way than I had thought about it. I love the nostalgic feeling that comes along when I read Corduroy to my son, or when I see books I had as a child that I know I want to read to him. During the breaks at my job, I have had numerous conversations with colleagues about The Road, and they have always resulted in different interpretations that all had serious merit. Although film conversations can be similar, authors don't always have deliberate roads they want you to go down, and films usually do.

So why are so few people reading? Books are cheaper than a video game (even an old, used one,) a movie ticket, a computer, or a cell phone, and yet they still collect dust in libraries and bookshelves. Have we become a culture so engrossed in instant gratification that we don't want to put in a few hours to read a novel because "there isn't time for that?" It's amazing to me that so few Americans have little time for books, but they DO have time for all of the other things I've listed. In my humble opinion, none of the previously-mentioned options of entertainment can stimulate a mind like a book, and these are what people are choosing.

The final quote I end with is one I included as an essay choice on a final for my high school class. Though most of the students attempted it, only about 1/4 of those who did received an A on it. Of course, the irony of it was that those with the A's all read above and beyond the required books, and those who didn't possibly read one entire book all year.

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."- Ray Bradbury