A study by University of Nevada sociologists looked at the influences on a child and the correlation with educational level achieved.

The parents' level of education? These sociologists say that there is a much more measurable one: how many books in the home.

They analyzed 20 years of data on 73,000 people in 27 countries and found that 500 books in the average home of average income of average education would correlate with a 12th grade education for the child.

The more books present, the greater the educational benefit. Sort of by osmosis, I guess, or telepathy.

My guess would be that people who read a lot, who serve in that way as role models for their children, regardless of education level (many people are autodidacts outside their work speciality) would be the defining factor.

And readers of books buy them, read them, collect them, pile them up, stuff them in every nook and cranny. That's the connection.

I seriously doubt that buying 500 books on eBay and shelving them in the living room (and leaving them to be dusted once a week) is going to guarantee that a child will graduate from high school, or, really, influence his/her education in any way.

So...I am going to look for the original study, to see what the authors actually wrote, since media reports often seize upon some peripheral factoid and use it for purposes of sensationalism.

If any of you knows the link to this study, I'd be most appreciative. The study author was Mariah Evans.