I sometimes am bothered with how reading, or reading books in particular is used as a proxy for that intellectual life. A significant proportion of anything ever published is absolute drivel and is no better than whatever proxy we wish to compare with reading, like reality television.

While I agree with you (that a lot of books are no better than the internet content and TV shows we decry so often as unintellectual), the other side of the coin is that one person's drivel is another person's necessary information. A lot of entertainment addresses deep topics as "humor" that are too uncomfortable to talk about via other pathways.

When I was a child, I read a lot of comics. I also was one of the top students at school.

The mother of a same-age friend didn't want him reading comics because it was drivel. She wanted him to be one of the smart kids and wanted him reading important stuff.

My mother told her one day "What do you care if he reads comics? He's at least reading if he's reading comics."

I don't know if that helped my friend. I don't know if his mother changed her policy. But it sure as hell stuck with me all these years and it's been probably 47 years ago or something like that.

If I'm one of the smart kids, you can credit my mother's policy of letting me read drivel because it was at least reading.

> A significant proportion of anything ever published is absolute drivel

Well, if Sturgeon's Law is true -- and I think it is -- that doesn't say much about reading or books ;)