The book doctors said we're doing Better, but still Bad.

Last year's National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) report on reading in America told us our brains are in danger. Not the zombie-attack-eat-your-brains sort of danger. No, this is the slowly-stagnate-until-your-brains-become-pea-soup danger. And it spreads to your children!

The good news about reading, according to the NEA, is that more adults are reading literature now than in 2002--a total of 16.6 million more. In fact, adults age 18-24 went from a 20% decline in literary reading in 2002 to a 21% percent increase in 2008. Yes, that's a 1% increase since the beginning of the century.

But don't get out the hats and horns to celebrate just yet. Folks in that age group still average 2 hours a day watching television, but only 7 minutes a day reading.

What happened? Internet? Video games? Zombie-ism? All the above?

The good folks at Scholastic (the wonderful press who sends those tabloid order forms home from school with the kiddies, offering low-cost books to entice good reading habits) ran their own study. The answer isn't simply an "all the above."

Scholastic's "Kids and Family Reading Report" available online at

http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholasti... found that adults have dropped the ball, um, book, when it comes to kids reading. Only about half of all parents begin reading to their child before their first birthday. It goes downhill from there. The percent of children who are read to every day drops from 38% among 5-8 year olds to 23% among 9-11 year olds. This is the same timeframe in which kids' daily reading for fun starts to decline.

Apparently, THEY don't read enough because WE don't read enough. I told you it's contagious.

Here's the cure, from the Scholastic study: Parents who read books for fun daily are six times more likely to have kids who also read for fun daily. SIX TIMES MORE! That seems worth 15-30 minutes per day.

So, as Nike says, "Just do it." There are billions of books from which to choose--from scary mysteries to inspiring biographies. Besides having better educated kids, there are major benefits from reading--for everyone:

* Reading improves memory: More certain than taking MegaSupraPotentPower gingko tablets, reading will help build the brain's dendrites, those little neural branches in the brain that can grow, with the proper stimulation such as reading, to make new connections and better memory.

* Reading burns more calories than watching TV: That's because TV does everything for you. All you have to do is sit and watch and occasionally breathe. Very little thinking involved. But a book allows your brain to imagine, to construct, to wonder and wander. Voila! Calories burned! Just think about it--yep, there go a couple of calories right there.

* Reading boosts your language skills: Bigger vocabulary, ability to put sharp sentences together, speaking confidently: reading can help you become a better speaker, better writer, and a better thinker. We all know That Guy who has let his brain go and can't say too much more than, "Hey, watch this. Cool, huh?" Don't be That Guy.

* Reading gives you something Smart and New to talk about: You know the scene. You're at the party, standing in Wallflower pose with nothing to say besides, "Hey, d'ja see the last 'Lost' episode?" Books to the rescue! From what you've been reading, you can mention issues, characters, plots, authors, opinions, even that beloved old chestnut: The Human Condition. Welcome to the party!

* Reading develops the imagination: Everyone admires creativity. Reading stimulates your mind to think about meaning and the book subject's relationship with your own life and the lives around you. Tangents follow, and you are on your way to those delicious Flights of Fancy, all your own. Go ahead. Be fascinating.

The way I see it, we're either Life-long Learners or we're wasting the blessing of being alive in a country chock full of bookstores and libraries. Get thee to a Library--and read as if your life, and the lives of your friends and family, depends on it. You get only One Brain, so keep it healthy. Read books and Reap the benefits.