Do you read?

I went to a New Year's Eve party that involved a heated pool, a hot tub, and a bit of alcohol. And the major discussions revolved around philosophy, the best books ever written, and the state of the world. AND, all the participants were sober. These were not drunken rants.

I'm not sure what this says about the kind of parties I attend or the kind of people I socialize with, but I digress. My point in writing is that one of the girls at the party said that throughout high school and 3 years of college, she read only 3 books. In fact, she said she had finished only 3 books in her entire life (Brave New World, the Rats of Nimh, and I can't remember the 3rd). She is a smart, educated, fairly articulate human being. She just doesn't read.

Is this normal? And what I mean by that is--Is this non-reading a fact of life for the majority of people? If so, why? In her case, her aversion was somewhat understandable, as her dyslexia was not diagnosed until college, but still I wonder. Are we producing a generation of non-readers? Does that bode well for our thinking skills? It's already changing the way books are written (shorter books, shorter sentences, less character development, shorter paragraphs, etc.--compare Charles Dickens to any modern author on the NY Times Bestseller list and you'll see what I mean)

Books play a huge role in my life. I own hundreds. A conservative estimate is that I have 700 books on my shelves in my house. There are also several boxes of books in the garage. And to the best of my knowledge, I've read them all. Most weeks I read at least 3-4 books. Now I'll be the first to admit, that I read a lot of brain candy that I can skim. I usually do that in lieu of watching TV, but I read excellent fiction and non-fiction as well. That's played a huge role in rounding out my education and honing my writing skills. So again, I wonder:

Where does that leave us if we raise a generation that does not read?