If you're like me, you regard the decline in book reading as another sign of the cultural rot that is eating away at the American character. Why read something as demanding as a book when you can spend all your time on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram? They're easier and provide a quicker fix of entertainment, gossip and information. Book reading, especially of old-fashioned physical books, simply isn't competitive.
Well, get used to it: This is all wrong.
In a new report, the Pew Research Center finds that book reading, while not exactly booming, seems to be holding its own against the onslaught of new time-consuming digital technologies. There's been a slow slide of book reading, but it is hardly a rout and may now be stabilizing.