The Economist [paywall] – Is the decline of reading making politics dumber? As people read less they think less clearly, scholars fear – [No Paywall]

The Economist’s data guru Alex Selby-Boothroyd: “Sentences are getting shorter. Fact. I made this chart using Sondre Ulvund Solstad’s excellent analysis of the New York Times bestseller list for a piece in the Culture section on the decline of reading. In short, reading is in trouble. But people have been complaining about dwindling literacy for thousands of years…