A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That--January 2008 edition

A few things to mention today:

Vote in the New Hampshire primary today! A record turnout is expected! Good for us!

A disturbing article, Twilight of the Books, in The New Yorker, highlights the fact that reading among Americans is in decline, and that there is a correlation

...between the decline of reading and social phenomena as diverse as income disparity, exercise, and voting.

It doesn't bode well for the library as a collection of books. We have entered the era where libraries function more and more as meeting place, distributor of mass entertainment (think about all our programs, DVDs, CDs), and source of internet access.

Despite the above story, there are people who still like to read, but, in many cases, actually picking up a book and reading, is being replaced by listening to a book. Here's the story of one man's New Year's resolution, The Audiobook Diet.

WBUR's Only a Game had a piece about an unusual fundraising event--a Candyland tournament! It was quite "shocking" to hear that adults actually cheat! Parents may want to pull out the Candyland board today since school is closed due to the election. If you don't have board games at home, we have several books on our shelves that will introduce you to other games you could play with your kids. Here are three: The Complete Book of Card Games [795.4 COM], Cooperative Games and Sports: Joyful Activities for Everyone by Terry Orlick [793 ORL], Hopscotch, Hangman, Hot-Potato, and Ha, Ha, Ha: A Rule Book of Children's Games by Jack Maguire [793 MAG].