Only 30 years ago, the world still read books and newspapers for its information, as it had done for centuries. But the art of reading has changed. The most obvious change is that today we read more from computer and phone screens than we do from books. But the changes run much deeper than just a different format from which to read words. In this episode, I interview Bryce Mortimer, President and owner of Cedar Fort Publishing and Media, based in Springville Utah. We discuss the good and bad of print books, e-books, audiobooks, email, and social media - and how the way we read shapes the way we think.
Episode #10 – “Changes in The Art of Reading”.
This is the podcast Science and Scriptures, episode #10 or “Changes in The Art of Reading”.
This is your host Scott Frazer and welcome to episode #10 of the podcast “Science and Scriptures”.In the past couple of episodes, we discussed “The Mistaken Assumptions of Judging Church History” and the “Right and Wrong Way to Separate Ourselves from the World”.
Today, I wish to talk about something I have thought about for several years, and I wanted to dedicate a podcast to the topic.
As an author, how the world reads is of great interest to me. Only 30 years ago, the world still read books and newspapers for its information, as it had done for centuries. But the art of reading has changed. The most obvious change is that today we read more from computer and phone screens than we do from books. But the changes run much deeper than just a different format from which to read words.
Today we get more information from emails, texts, YouTube, and social posts than we get from books or newspapers. Many of our books are actually podcasts (hopefully, like this one) and audiobooks. How we obtain information influences how we remember and prioritize that information.
Today I am with Bryce Mortimer, President and owner of Cedar Fort Publishing and Media, based in Springville Utah.Cedar Fort is my publisher and is staffed by a group of great people. Cedar Fort Publishing & Media was established in 1986 and Bryce acquired it in 2015. Cedar Fort publishes over 100 book titles each year, including cookbooks, fiction, nonfiction, LDS doctrinal, outdoors, inspirational, and self-help. They also produce over 150 gift items each year including art, jewelry, scripture totes, film, stickers, etc. As I thought about who I might interview to discuss changes in reading and books, Bryce came immediately to mind.
1. Bryce, do you want to add anything else that I didn’t extract from your LinkIn bio?
2. What changes are you seeing in the publishing industry? How have books changed in the last 10 – 20 years? How are they changing now?
3. On the other side of your industry, how has your customer base changed in the last decade or two? Has demand shifted?
4. When I enter a Costco for example, I can’t help but notice there may be 9 tables for children’s books and 1 or 2 tables for adult books. Do parents teach their children to love to read, while not reading much themselves?
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2019, roughly a quarter of U.S. adults (27%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form. In 2011, only 18% of adults responded that they hadn’t read or listened to a book, so the sector is growing.
As one Duke University professor confessed, “I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore.” This is more disturbing when you learn that this professor teaches English; her students are Literature majors.
College students readily admit they don’t read books – they feel it is an acceptable tradeoff for the ability to absorb information more quickly from the Internet.
As a population, we still read a great deal – but we read off our cell phones much more than we read out of books. Americans spend around 5.4 hours a day using their cell phones. We get our texts, emails, news, bulletins, and occasional phone calls on our cell phones.
In 2019, a Pew Research Center survey found 65% of people had read a print book (down 6% from 2011).
In 2019, 25% of people had read an e-book book (up 8% in 2011).
In 2019, 20% had listened to an audiobook (up from 9% in 2011)
We are shifting from reading print books to reading our electronic media. We rarely read books on our electronic media. We read short emails, shorter texts, abbreviated news stories, and social media posts.
5. Being a publisher who deals with book demand every day, what do you think about these trends? Are they affecting your industry?
6. Many people say this is not a problem because everyone is listening to audio books and podcasts now.
7. Is there a difference between reading a book and listening to a book?
8. Does your opinion change for fiction versus non-fiction books?
9. Are we losing something in this transition?
10. Do you think there is a chance at ever reversing this trend? Will print books make a comeback?
Changing the focus a bit here I am curious about your thoughts on another concern that relates to reading. As I mentioned before, there is a concern that reading Internet posts, texts, emails – all of which are short communications – is affecting our ability to read longer, more in-depth books. I’d like to hear your opinion on the following quote. In his book The Shallows – What the Internet is doing to our Brains, author Nicholas Carr examines the effects the Internet is having on our society. First, he looks at how the Internet has affected him personally. He says,
“I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I feel it most strongly when I’m reading. I used to find it easy to immerse myself in a book or a lengthy article. My mind would get caught up in the twists of the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration starts to drift after a page or two. I get fidgety, lose my thread, begin looking for something else to do. …media aren’t just channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation”.
11. First, do you agree with Nicholas Carr’s conclusions that the Internet is affecting the way we think?
12. Carr recommends that to reverse the effects the Internet we must take time to read books. Our minds have the neuroplasticity to regain our ability to concentrate, if we expose them to deep dives into a narrative or a non-fiction book. What do you think?
13. Do you think these changes are affecting our abilities to study the scriptures and other religious material?
14. There are also large numbers of the cell phone generations that are leaving the church, in both the LDS faith and all others as well. Do you think the two trends are related or are they coincidental?
I wish to thank Bryce for agreeing to hold this interview with me today. I’ve learned a lot and, Bryce, I appreciate your time.
I would encourage my listeners to consider how much time they spend texting or emailing on their electronic devices versus how much time they spend reading a good book.Your brain will adapt itself to better accomplish what you do the most. This may or may not be a change you want. My final recommendation is – have a book on your nightstand that you read before going to sleep. Read for enjoyment, read for knowledge, or read for the challenge - but do read.
To achieve that goal, of course I am going to recommend you look at the books on the Cedar Fort website. They have excellent books here, both fiction and non-fiction, and books for your children. Please look them up at cedarfort.com – that’s one word CEDARFORT.com
Thank you everyone for listening to this episode of “Science and Scriptures”. Take care.