Since we mentioned the reading survey, let's take a look at it.

One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year — half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read any, the usual number read was seven.

"I just get sleepy when I read," said Richard Bustos of Dallas, a habit with which millions of Americans can doubtless identify. Bustos, a 34-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company, said he had not read any books in the last year and would rather spend time in his backyard pool.

That choice by Bustos and others is reflected in book sales, which have been flat in recent years and are expected to stay that way indefinitely. Analysts attribute the listlessness to competition from the Internet and other media, the unsteady economy and a well-established industry with limited opportunities for expansion.

This reflects what I saw when I taught English -- the comment that stood out to me came from a student seven or eight years ago.

"Mr. RWR, books today are called movies."

Younger folks today have a variety of media sources for getting information and entertainment. At 44, I was raised with books and television. Those who are two decades younger have many more outlets vying for their attention, and the book is simply an archaic communication form for them.

The study notes that men don't read books -- something I have long found to be true, though I am very much an exception. Other than "purposeful reading" (work and education), I never saw my father read a book growing up. Mind you, he was a career military officer, and earned a masters and a doctorate during the latter part of his military career and in retirement, but I just never saw him reading for pleasure. Indeed, neither the book about a colleague's experiences as a POW nor Tom Clancy's jack Ryan novels interested him when I got them for him. In fact, the Clancy books went home with me in my suitcase three years later -- without the cellophane having ever been stripped from the boxed set. I think this is true of many men -- reading is a work skill, not a leisure activity.

But again, I will caution folks that not reading books does not necessarily translate to not reading at all.