My point in bringing this all up was not to equate anything with anything, but to "raise awareness" (God, I hate that phrase) about reading in general. How many adults would know who wrote The Idiot? Or Walden and Civil Disobedience? Or Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde?

Yes, what this guy did was most likely a publicity stunt, but let's face facts. Think about how much time we spend in front of the tube (I don't CARE what it is), how much time surfing the web (non-business related), playing video games, etc. Does your reading time REALLY amount to more time than that?