Boston: Not That Drunk, Not That Literate

Last month, we were shocked to learn that Boston’s reputation as a city of drunkards isn’t as well-deserved as we thought. At the time, we consoled ourselves with the fact that we’re smart. But it seems that not even that is as true as we’d hoped.

Our world is falling apart.

In a ranking of America’s Most Literate Cities, Boston ranks a dismal 10th.

Compiled by John Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, the list is based on six key indicators – newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, education, and Internet resources.

What city in America is the most literate? Minneapolis, Minnesota. That makes some kind of sense, if only because it’s too cold for most of the year to leave the house. Cities like Washington, D.C. we can see, but Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh is more literate than we are?

Pick up a book and start reading. We’re better than this, Boston.