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Between 2017 and 2022, the share of adults who read at least one book per year fell by 4.2 percentage points. Reading scores for children continue to decline across the board. Professors at top universities report that their students are increasingly unable to finish full books assigned for class. By all accounts, reading is slowly disappearing from the center of civic, professional, and academic life. But is reading really a relic of a bygone era?
At the Harvard Political Review, we believe that reading is not only an important skill but also an essential habit for personal development. Reading is a means of better understanding the world. It is a means of becoming acquainted with social-emotional complexities. And perhaps most importantly these days, it is a mechanism for producing empathy.
The “March is Reading Month” initiative from the Culture section seeks to highlight the continued relevance and importance of reading. From book reviews that draw increasingly pertinent parallels between fantasy worlds and modern day politics, to personal reflections on the impact of reading, this initiative uplifts the role reading has on shaping our society.
Click below to read what these Harvard College students have to say about reading and books in the modern era.
A Dream We’re Losing
Law and Vibes: A Review of Leah Litman’s “Lawless”
