Less than half of American adults now read literature, according to a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) survey called Reading at Risk. The study found that the number of readers fell 10% between 1982 to 2002 -- a staggering loss of 20 million potential readers. The study also found that the most popular types of literature are novels or short stories, which were read by 45 percent or 93 million adults in the previous year. Poetry was read by 12 percent or 25 million people, while just 4 percent or seven million people reported having read a play.
