Why do you read? And what biases are sitting on your bookshelf?

The hosts center their careers on innovation which means that they ask questions for a living. So when hosts Dr. Patti Fletcher, Lynne Cuppernull, and Dan Ward tackle reading, they don't ask what you're reading, they ask why.

This episode starts with the personal: reading as escape, ritual, education, connection, a cuddle for the brain. Then it gets harder. How diverse are the authors on your shelf? Did you know men make up only 19% of readers of books written by women, while women are 65% of readers of books written by men? What does that say about cultural conditioning?

The hosts dig into who reads, who writes, and who gets read. They examine economic dimensions: people with higher incomes read more, and people who read more earn more. They talk about creating reading cultures in organizations, the politics of whose books get attention, and whether it's okay to not finish a book (or write in one).

Then they take on AI. Would you read a book written by AI? What if you didn't know it was AI-generated until after? And what does it mean when AI reads our books without permission: Can we even call that reading?

Dan shares his experiment reading only books by women, people of color, and international authors for a year. Patti talks about intentionally seeking out authors of color after Black Lives Matter and forgetting she'd even made that choice because it became a natural, intentional part of her selection process. Lynne asks if reading is where avoided questions first whisper to us.

They close with a lightning round: Fiction or nonfiction? Long or short? Library or bookstore? Paper or screen?

Key Themes:

• Why we read versus what we read
• Gender and cultural biases in reading habits
• Economic dimensions of literacy and access
• Building reading cultures in teams and organizations
• Writing in books, not finishing books, buying books we never read
• AI-generated content and what AI owes to authors whose work it trains on
• Reading as anti-fascist practice and connection across difference

Resources We Found Helpful

Research & Data:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reading data
• U.S. Department of Education literacy research
• National Endowment for the Arts reading trends
• Pew Research: 23% of American adults haven't read a book in the past year
• Global readership data on gender disparities in reading

Referenced Authors & Works:

• C.S. Lewis: "We read to know we're not alone"
• Toni Morrison's *Beloved*
• The Brontë sisters (published under pseudonyms like Currer Bell)

People & Organizations Mentioned:

• Reed Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder, Greylock partner) - early ChatGPT user for book writing
• Tara McDonald - Natick, Massachusetts library system
• Anthropic legal settlement regarding AI training on books

Mentioned in Passing:

• Dan Ward's LinkedIn post on AI writing tells (especially the M-dash)
• B. Dalton bookstores
• National Reading Month (March)
• Read Across America Day (March 2nd)

Listening for the Questions is where curiosity is our compass.