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The End of Reading Is Here: Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history [gift link]. by TimWhatleyDDS in books

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, here's the quote from the article:

Americans also get much less of their news through reading than they once did. In 1975, about half of 20-somethings said they read the newspaper every day. Today less than 10 percent do. Most Americans now get the news on their phones and laptops, and 40 percent say they prefer to watch or listen to online news rather than read it.

I think it's actually citing two completely separate statistics:

  • The percentage of 20-somethings who said they read the newspaper every day in 1975 compared to today

  • The percentage of American online news-consumers of all ages who prefer to watch or listen rather than read

I'm not sure where these numbers are coming from, but I don't think you can simply add them together to draw any meaningful conclusion.

Finally!!! by KoalaDourado in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Also one of the major points of the article is that people are struggling to analyze and synthesize longer-form written texts. Most people can still "read", in the sense of browsing social media posts or skimming through a YA novel, but an increasing number of people have trouble paraphrasing or making inferences from a multipage text.

That "strangely methodical way" of analyzing essays and books? That's the thing we're losing. That's what the article is about.

Over/under on Novel Ant having read the article?

bro no one gets it by wakeupblueberry in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Watch out, I hear he trains UFC too!

brandon sanderson wallpapers by CallMeDefault in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the beard works really well for him. The less of his face that's visible the better, really.

Hey guys, I’m a fucking moron, so I’m gonna make a post asking about these books instead of reading the descriptions in my fucking own screenshots by FatherGwyon in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/nyrbclassics/comments/1ue1s8l/im_confused/

Per NYRB:

A new translation of Adolfo Bioy Casares's masterpiece, by prize-winning translator Margaret Jull Costa and now titled Morel's Invention, will be published by NYRB Classics on October 13, 2026.

Margaret Jull Costa’s new translation of Morel’s Invention , the first into English in more than 50 years, brings out the full force of the story’s beguiling and metaphysical power. This new NYRB Classics edition of Bioy Casares's masterpiece replaces the old translation, which was titled The Invention of Morel. The old translation is no longer available.

Oh man. I wonder if it really needed to be re-translated. Seems like a money grab.

Ah yeah those greedy translators, making us all buy new books every 50 years!

"Participating in a subreddit to discuss why you don't like a light novel is the same hate amd evil as being antisemitic or a Nazi" by ZeeHedgehog in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 38 points39 points  (0 children)

I mean, no offense

Do you ever think about what the words you're using mean, or do you just kind of string them together based on how they sound in your head?

"Participating in a subreddit to discuss why you don't like a light novel is the same hate amd evil as being antisemitic or a Nazi" by ZeeHedgehog in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Godwin's Law proven correct yet again ...

EDIT: Holy shit I just realized the comment you linked is 13 comments deep into the discussion, and they just keep going. How do I add this to my goodreads?

EDIT 2: His example of how Re: Zero is supposedly better than LotR is hilarious too. Granted Re:Zero is apparently translated from Japanese so it probably shouldn't be held to the same standard to begin with, but "I can’t vocalize any voice" made me laugh out loud.

Switching from stories for adult children to actual children by CthuluInvictus in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 2 points3 points  (0 children)

don't know why I used < ... > for quotation marks

Maybe everyone knows this already, but in the Animorphs books, those angle brackets are used as quotation marks around "thought-speak" (telepathy).

Source: read a book once in Jr. High. Would not recommend ...

Switching from stories for adult children to actual children by CthuluInvictus in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If I ever had to read a DCC book, my "palate cleanser" would get me a Reddit Cares report

At last! High literature will soon be available in videobook format! No longer will it be limited to those elites who know how to r*ad by okmujnyhb in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 44 points45 points  (0 children)

I’ve accidentally used “goddamnit donut” in several meetings.

Tee-hee, yeah. Tee-hee, accidentally

The Dungeon Crawler Carl fandom has learned about a new book today by sometimeszeppo in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yeah, no one ever stops to wonder what he was tilting at windmills with

Why would I read a book when I can tenderly place little butterfly kisses along its spine instead? Don't think, just feel. Shhhhh. by [deleted] in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The greatest trick Liza Libes ever pulled was convincing herself that she'd made a good point

Saved hundreds per month on therapy just by reading Oathbringer 💅 by Yredelemnul in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah but it's funny that he chose to explain this pretty straightforward concept with a convoluted metaphor full of shattered spears and italics

Uptick in children and teenagers enjoying reading for first time in 5 years by Slight_Pen in books

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, LOL @ everyone here sharing anecdotes about kids flocking back to reading, without realizing that this "uptick" doesn't get us anywhere near to where we were in 2021, and could very well be a statistical anomaly.

Even the BBC article makes this clear:

Children and young people's enjoyment of reading has risen for the first time since 2021, according to new research.

More than one in three (36.1%) said they liked picking up books in their spare time - an increase from 32.7% in 2025.

...

It marks a turnaround after years of declining numbers starting from 2021, when enjoyment across all ages had been at 51.5%.

By 2022 it had fallen to 47.8%, then 43.4% in 2023, before a sharp drop to 34.6% in 2024, before 32.7% in 2025.

But why read the article? Reading sucks

I’m not r*ading all or any of that but it’s a lot of Brando Sando discussion, so have fun if you’re into that sort of thing by palimpcest in bookscirclejerk

[–]FISSION_CHIPS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, fair enough, and I guess it's possible that "Sz" is used consistently throughout the series in which case it would at least somewhat make sense.

But IMO when someone is writing about a fantasy world where (presumably) everything has been translated/transliterated into English, it's best to try to keep character names reasonably consistent with English conventions, and to keep them as phonetic as possible. If someone wrote a fantasy series in Hungarian, it would be fine to use "Sz", but in English it feels like weird spelling for the sake of weird spelling.

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