To help combat a general decline in reading in the U.S., particularly among young people, Sony is spearheading a so-called “Reader Revolution” to spark the imaginations of young readers and engage the public in digital reading.

According to a press release, Sony is “Starting a Reading Revolution”: In conjunction with National Book Month, the company will unleash
thousands of “Reader Revolutionaries” throughout October and beyond at
various retail outlets and at special events around the country to help
people experience reading on Sony’s Reader Digital Book firsthand.

Starting today, Sony is beginning an extended “read-in” with two-time
world record-holder Dave Farrow who will serve as a designated reader in a
Manhattan storefront, reading digital books on the Reader around the clock
for 30 days. For each page he reads, Sony will provide an eBook library of
100 classic titles to a school or learning institution. The goal is to give
15 million eBook titles by the end of the program. The first 100 schools to
start downloading their selected classic titles will also receive an
education pack of five Reader Digital Books.

Arts, education and technology are of particular interest to Sony and
the company is pleased to support many organizations and events related to
these topics on local, national and international levels.

“Young people are spending a great deal of time interacting with
digital content online and on portable devices,” said Mike Fasulo, Sony
Electronics’ Chief Marketing Officer. “With the latest technology, we now
have the opportunity to offer books in a digital form that will capture
their imaginations with literature just as we’ve done with movies, music,
and games.”

According to a 2007 National Endowment of the Arts study(1), Americans
are spending less time reading. Nearly half of all Americans ages 18 to 24
read no books for pleasure and reportedly their reading comprehension
skills are eroding.

These declines have serious civic, social, cultural and economic
implications. Employers now rank reading and writing as critical
deficiencies in new hires. They indicate that one in five U.S. workers read
at a lower skill level than their job requires and remedial writing courses
are estimated to cost employers more than $3.3 billion.

Who is that Man in the Window?

Reading drives the interest of the storefront window dweller, who
overcame the obstacles of Attention Deficit Disorder and dyslexia to become
known for his reading prowess. Farrow, a speed reader and a two-time world
record-holder in memory is one of the foremost experts in the field of
memorization. He is also a frequent expert speaker on the topics of
learning disabilities and memory enhancing techniques. He once memorized 59
decks of playing cards and recalled them, one card at a time, for more than
eight hours to secure his memory title.

Consumers are invited to join the cause by viewing Farrow’s progress
online and taking the Reader virtual tour at http://www.sony.com/reader.
They can also visit the store window in person at Datavision on Fifth
Avenue at 39th Street in New York City, adjacent to the New York Public
Library.

People can also help the cause by receiving an in-person demonstration
of the Reader at the store or volunteering to give Farrow a well-deserved
break. Prospective relief readers can sign up onsite and step into the
window for an assigned time slot. Various celebrities, authors, local
dignitaries and other notables will step in and relieve Farrow throughout
the month.

About the Reader Digital Book

The Reader Digital Book by Sony is a portable electronic reading
device. Its high-resolution, high contrast electronic paper display
technology provides a reading experience very much akin to ink-on-paper,
which many may find superior to reading on displays typical of computers
and personal digital assistants. The result is crisp text and graphics that
are highly readable, even in bright sunlight.

Roughly the size of a paperback novel, but thinner than most (about .5
inches thin), the device can store hundreds of books and other documents
using a combination of internal flash memory and optional Memory Stick(R)
or Secure Digital (SD) flash memory cards. In addition to electronic books,
the Reader can also store and display personal documents in Adobe PDF
format, RTF, text and JPEG photos. From the Sony eBook store, readers can
choose from more than 50,000 electronic book titles. Because the Reader
supports multiple eBook formats, including Adobe eBook and EPUB, there are
hundreds of thousands of free and purchasable books available from multiple
eBook stores, web sites and public libraries.

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(1) Source: National Endowment for the Arts, To Read or Not To Read

Executive Summary Report, November 2007

Related links:
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