Books = Good | Games = Bad !

An interesting response to a new British Cohort Study by Mark Taylor of Nuffield College, Oxford. The project analysed data from 17,200 people, looking at which activities they did in their spare time for pleasure at age 16 in 1986, responses were checked against the jobs they were doing at the age of 33, in 2003. The resulting headlines show the various interpretation of outcomes:

• Telegraph - Reading as teenager gets you a better job
• BBC Today Programme - The benefits of reading for pleasure
• Daily Mail - Forget music lessons and sports clubs... reading in your teens is the key to a good career
• Express - Bookworm teenagers are most likely to get top jobs
• Guardian - Computer gamers less likely to go to university

It's a timely study as sales of electronic books overtake physical versions in the US, adding further to the hazy divide between spare time activities.

Overall I'd suggest it's a welcome study, but doesn't teach us too much, a passion for reading (in any format) will stand you in good stead.