Christopher Siters

Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
I. Introduction to the activity

Reading, which, in its varied definitions seems largely to focus on the reception and

mental interpretation (specifically the assignation of value and/ or meaning) of external stimuli

(largely in written/ printed media) has been around for arguably most, if not all, of human history

(in one form or another); to be sure, early humans absolutely “read” the world around them…

they observed animal tracks, weather patterns, etc., observing and assigning meaning to the

world. Reading as we understand and define it today can be traced to the roots of civilization,

with the oldest surviving “full-length” story being the Mesopotamian “Epic of Gilgamesh.” Due

to limitations of languages, writing, supplies, etc., stories were often transmitted orally, which, if

we remember the “telephone” game from grade school, we all know how well information

remained intact. From humble beginnings on clay tablets and papyri scrolls, fast-forward a few

thousand years and we have the introduction of the codex in ancient Rome, a few thousand more

to the printing press in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg, and a few hundred further to Henry

Ford’s assembly lines, and thus the commercialization of literature can be made reality. And,

while the modern human probably reads hundreds, if not thousands of words per day, reading for

pleasure/ leisure has been relegated to a fairly minimal amount of time in daily lives, with the

average adult spending just 15 minutes per day reading.

II. Socio-economic background

We have a lot to thank revolutions for. Specifically, the modern era can pay homage to

many ideals put forth during/ after the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment. We

would like to think that because the Three Rs are taught in school (reading, writing, arithmetic),

that literacy is a skill available to/ in everyone, regardless of socioeconomic background.

Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
However, this is largely through a normative lens. Often children who deal with autism or

dyslexia or any myriad of medical conditions which could inhibit both learning to read and/ or

communicate, are either pushed through or left behind. This also does not include those who

speak languages other than English; while I do think citizens of a nation should conform to the

national language(s), there is a startling discrepancy between the poly-linguistic abilities of most

native English speakers versus non-English speakers. English, in its struggle for universality, has

sought to alienate and/ or altogether eliminate competition for global fluency; whereas in Europe,

it is not uncommon for a person to be fluent in at least two languages while being familiar with

any other number based on geographic location, political alignments, etc.

With the advent of the printing press and the customization of the assembly lines, books

became available wherever goods were sold. That being said, a new barrier came to literacy/

reading: money. With the decline of such things as the oral tradition, experiences centered

around the community became individually accessible: farming, cooking, childcare, reading.

Reading and storytelling became somewhat of a solo endeavor (at least until the advent of

cinema, which itself has undergone the transformation from public to private). Personal book

collections can be a point of pride, especially for the antiquarian collector; with some books

selling for thousands of dollars, most on the modern market range between $10 - $30 U.S. (there

are even books written about how an author can/ should price their books).

Thankfully, people understood the value of knowledge (and books) and we have had

great public libraries arguably for as long as we have had a form of written text/ media/ etc. The

oldest known library is that of Ashurbanipal from Mesopotamia, home of the Gilgamesh Epic.

The burning of the Library at Alexandria is arguably one of the most tragic events in literary
Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
history. Tragedies aside, I don’t believe there is any requirement to enter a public library (aside

from being appropriately dressed, etc.), so really anyone could go read a book; to check one out

and take it with you, you would need to obtain a library card (which are typically inexpensive if

not free), by providing a proof of ID and address (which unfortunately impose their own sets of

normative restrictions) and/ or a parent/ guardian would need to accompany a child to take legal

financial responsibility.

Arguably, one of the biggest prices to pay for reading is the price to pay attention. As

stated above, the average U.S. adult spends an average of 15 minutes reading daily; 2020

pandemic numbers only being about 20 minutes per day; with 1,440 minutes in a day, that is just

about 1% of the day. If we look at the day as percentages, spending (approximately) equal time

working and sleeping (eight hours), 480 minutes respectively, 960 minutes total, which is

approximately 66% or two-thirds of the day. With 66% accounting for work and sleep, and 1%

accounting for reading, that leaves 33% for literally everything else we as humans have to do on

a daily basis (cooking, eating, hygiene, etc.). In the day and age where “time is money,” many

leisure activities become a way to monetize one’s time: making TikTok’s or doing brand

ambassadorship about anything from cosmetics to customized workouts and diet plans. With that

being said, the average attention span is shrinking as well; in 2012 the average attention span

was clocked in at around 75 seconds – five years later, that number is down to about 47 seconds

(that is an average, meaning many people scored below that time). Honestly, that is a frightening

statistic, which begs a myriad of questions about medical conditions, working, and any other

aspect of human existence.

Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
III. Physical conditions

Technically, reading can be done just about anywhere humans can go; there are no

specific conditions that need to exist, such as for surfing or snowboarding. However, obviously

one is not necessarily going to go sit outside in the arctic and crack open a cold one…a good

book, that is. Physical, printed books generally prefer dry conditions as moisture can cause mold/

mildew growth which can damage the book; the development of e-books did not necessarily do

anything to stimy that shortcoming, as electronics are just as averse to liquids/ moisture as books

are, though they did improve the bulky portability as well as the (multi)functionality of

possessions (a book that is more than just a book!). Generally, since the transition from public to

private, we prefer to have a quiet reading space in which we can focus and/ or escape: many

people conjure the imagery of a dark, wooden library, shelves lined with thick leather-bound

volumes and voluminous leather-bound chairs settled next to a cozy fireplace, whereas more

modern sympathies might place a quaint corner coffee-shop, bustling but not busy, a constant

murmur of white noise barely above a whisper as you drift out of this world into the leaves of the

next.

This is in stark contrast to the oral tradition history, which would gather crowds to listen.

Herodotus was said to have read his most recent work during the Olympics. It was also said that

in ancient Rome, reading from a book (codex) during mealtimes (presumably aloud for all) was

not only pleasant, but common. There were even books written about how to read books aloud,

how to gesture and emote to evoke the essence of each work.

Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
IV. Cultural/ Demographic features

The importance of reading has definitely experienced periods of waxing and waning not

only from culture to culture, but even within a single culture. These inequalities generally arose

from gender, as well as who was to control power/ knowledge/ wealth. Many cultures, if not all,

do place an emphasis on some form of storytelling, whether it be for entertainment, education,

instruction, etc. In fact, many ancient stories are not necessarily entertaining so much as the

closest thing that said society had to scientific observation, for instructing about when to plant

and harvest, where to migrate at what time of the year, etc. They served more as guideposts, oral

landmarks, a personal history (as many people defined themselves not as an individual but as a

group). It is, arguably, an Enlightenment ideal which separated art from science, myth from

history, the part/ individual from the whole.

V. Governance and Political climate

The government plays very important roles in the act of reading as well as what can or

cannot be read, who can write about what, and many other things. The first role in which

government comes to mind concerning reading is the Department of Education, responsible for

controlling public school policy for the nation’s children kindergarten through high school, and

even beyond (since the Dept. of Ed. Has their hands in post-secondary education, student loans,

etc.) The government also maintains the offices for things like patents, copyrights, etc., which

allows authors to privatize their ideas for financial benefit, but also grants legitimacy to the work

as being recognized by the federal government (compared with someone who writes a book and

prints it on their home printer and never does anything else with it) which is also useful in legal

disputes concerning the exclusive rights of authors/ publishers/ etc. There are also numerous
Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
agencies and laws surrounding censorship, from suggested movie ratings to outright prohibition

of materials punishable by law. Though I will say, entirely from a theoretical and speculative

standpoint, I personally very much enjoy browsing the “banned” books/ movies lists; movies

usually for unnecessarily graphic depictions, books on the other hand are much more subtly

dangerous, and outright banning them is interesting because it prevents any possibility of

discourse about the topics involved: for example, “Mein Kampf” by Adolf Hitler. Obviously a

contentious and controversial work of literature, and not to condone his beliefs and/ or actions,

but I can personally only say that this is a “banned book” because of his actions, but as far as the

contents of the actual work goes, I have no idea what he actually wrote about. People often

question what could drive a person to commit such atrocities, questions whose answers arguably

lie within those pages. There is a fine line between “censoring” and “culling;” all totalitarian

regimes know the value of ignorance in making a people subservient, and it is by a denial of

knowledge, such as book burnings or banning circulation.

Aside from that, there are any number of bodies involved in publishing, marketing,

selling books; literary reviews and/ or awards from Nobel Laureates to Pulitzers to Oprah’s

“book of the month;” podcasts of and/ or about books; whole college courses devoted to studying

single authors such as Eyre, Twain, or Tolkien. Even going so far as for movie adaptations that

we have come to treasure and/ or despise (they really are hit or miss).

I doubt there will ever be consensus on the right way to govern thought, aside from Elon

Musk’s neuralink chip (since one might not have a say in what one thinks). There will always

exist a tenuous boundary between expression and oppression, and thus a constant state of flux

concerning the governance and politics of literature (though freedom of speech was a big win).
Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024

VI. Future trends

I almost wish that I had been writing this pre-AI, because with the infringement of

intellectual property by companies to “educate” these AI and the blurring of lines between what

is “real” and what is “generated.” I remember seeing an advertisement on Amazon for a book of

AI poetry, and there was also an author who admitted to using AI to write parts of her award-

winning novel. The unrestrained AI-movement is a humongous detriment to humanity as a

whole; that is not to say that I do not believe it could be beneficial if used correctly, but

hopefully regulatory agencies will be able to step in and curtail the artificialization of human

creativity. The digital age revolutionized reading in astronomical ways, so there is no telling

what the future holds as far as how humans will engage with reading for leisure, though there

does seem to be a drastic divide between those who love and hate reading; whether this divide

has always existed is debatable. But, whether it is dusting off the bones of a bygone era or

synthesizing new material for a distant, far-off future, the only boundary to reading for pleasure

is that of the human mind.

Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
VII. References

A Spectator’s Guide to the Ancient Olympic Games.

olympics.com/ioc/ancient-olympic-games/spectators.

Ha, Thu-Huong. “Akutagawa Prize Draws Controversy After Win for Work That Used

ChatGPT.” The Japan Times, 21 Jan. 2024,

www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2024/01/19/books/akutagawa-prize-book-chatgpt.

“History of Publishing | Forms, Development, and Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 July

1999, www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-modern-era.

LibGuides: History of the Book: Home. guides.highpoint.edu/c.php?g=1213119&p=8873549.

Patra, Senjuti. “A Brief History of Reading Through the Ages | Book Riot.” BOOK RIOT, 8 Jan.

2021, bookriot.com/history-of-reading/#:~:text=Reading%20from%20a%20book%20was

%20considered%20pleasant%20dinnertime,Rome%20as%20early%20as%20the%20first

%20century%20CE.

“Read.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/read. Accessed 4 Feb. 2024.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Epic of Gilgamesh | Summary, Characters, and

Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Aug. 2009, www.britannica.com/topic/Epic-of-

Gilgamesh.

“Topic: Reading Habits in the U.S.” Statista, 18 Dec. 2023,

www.statista.com/topics/3928/reading-habits-in-the-us/#editorsPicks.
Christopher Siters
Dr Milazzo
RPTM 220
February 4, 2024
“Why Our Attention Spans Are Shrinking, With Gloria Mark, PhD.” https://www.apa.org,

www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans.