Have we actually stopped reading books?

Splashy headlines this year caused a bit of literary panic, suggesting young people can’t read like they used to. In fact, survey data says all of us are reading fewer books than prior generations. But are the headlines overblown? Are we simply seeing a shift in how we absorb ideas?  And what about other trends, like the rise of audiobooks, book clubs and our near constant consumption of information on our phones.

Our guests are Ron Charles, who reviews books and writes the Book Club newsletter for The Washington Post. He is also the book critic for “CBS Sunday Morning.” Shannon Reed is an English Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and ​​author of Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out.