Nearly a quarter of all Americans (23%) did not read a book last year, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. That’s almost triple the number of non-book readers a similar study from Gallup found in 1978. For those who think books are important, the news isn’t all bad.

About 28 percent of Americans read 11 or more books in 2013, and a study from the National Endowment for the Arts found that decades-long declines in book reading by young Americans (ages 18-24) seem to have stabilized. While youth still read far fewer books than older Americans, 52 percent said they read a book for fun in 2012, the same as was reported a decade earlier. (The Atlantic)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.