What CEOs Read Before They Lead

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»

Obama's vacation book list drives leaps in Amazon sales rankings

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s poll numbers are faltering, but his summer reading choices are getting rave reviews, Politico reports. A survey of the Amazon.com standings of the five books the White House announced he would take with him on his Martha’s Vineyard vacation show a drastic improvement in sales. If you’re doubtful about joining Obama’s Book Club, look at these numbers and follow the pack: 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»

We think fibbing about reading classics makes us appear intelligent, 'sexier'

(NEWSER) - The Bible, War and Peace, 1984, and Ulysses are some of the classics people say they've read but actually haven't, a new British study has found. Why? Two-thirds of those surveyed fibbed about their reading mainly to appear intelligent and "more sexually attractive," a researcher tells the Daily Telegraph. "It makes them look good." Of course, "If a date comes back with some obscure quotation from Proust, you might be in trouble." 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»