Does Surfing Equal Reading?

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 grown-ups who don't see a problem. More»

(NEWSER) - The digital world has become so engrossing that David L Ulin finds it difficult to focus and read a book—not a good sign when you're the editor of the Los Angeles Times book review. "The encroachment of the buzz," from hours of emails to inane rumors across the Web, has made it more and more difficult to settle into the paces of reading. "Reading is an act of contemplation," he writes, that is growing ever harder to master. More»

Study indicates literary decline might be reversing

(NEWSER) - The percentage of Americans reading fiction has increased for the first time in years, a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicates. The reported 50.2% of the population who picked up a book for pleasure marks a turnaround from a statistical decline in literary culture over the past two decades, the New York Times reports. More»

Weekly installments end with a choice

(NEWSER) - Fantasy fans who’d like a role in the action can turn to literature’s latest incarnation: the online Web-novel, or wovel, NPR reports. Readers can click and read a chapter each week. Then, “at the end of every installment, there's a binary plot branch point with a vote button,” says the founder of online and traditional publisher Underland Press. More»

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 fidgeting and losing the thread after a few pages, Carr wonders in the Atlantic: What is the net doing to our brains? More»