Mpls: We read without moving our lips

[barondave]

Most Literate U.S. Cities: Minneapolis and Seattle

Residents of Minneapolis and Seattle are the most bookish and well-read, according to results from a new survey released today of the most literate American cities.
 
The survey focused on 69 U.S. cities with populations of 250,000 or above. Jack Miller of Central Connecticut State University chose six key indicators to rank literacy. These included newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources.

St. Paul is third.

I suspect a cause and effect between "literate" and "fannish", but I'm not sure in which direction it runs.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Whence literacy?

It clearly starts with education. Good schools and a good educational environment produce literacy, which, combined with an innate enthusiasm, cultivates fannishness, which feeds back to reading and writing more, etc. However, I've seen it happen that a disconnect develops -- someone stops reading for years, then picks something up that rekindles an enthusiasm (Harry Potter is a very good recent example, for a number of folks), and the cycle begins. That's why I say it can come from either direction.