Interesting article. He’s always been a reader: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/books/obamas-secret-to-surviving-the-white-house-years-books.html?_r=0
As much as I like books…I’m going to go out a limb here and say food, water and air probably played a small part as well.
Moved from Elections to MPSIMS.
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I don’t believe anyone has doubted his erudition; I’m very pleased to learn he kept reading.
That was cringe worthy. Nothing like a supposed critic sucking up to the powerful. The first line betrays such a lack of knowledge of history.
George W. Bush read a lot, too (yes, really) but I doubt the NYT ran a blowjob piece about it.
Truth is, MOST Presidents read a lot. That is hardly a surprising thing.
We all know he read a book on 9/11. 
I wonder if Michelle and Barack own Kindles?
Dunno - I’ve never read anywhere that they do, so I suspect not.
Here’s Entertainment Weekly on all of Obama’s book recommendations: Barack Obama's book recommendations | EW.com
I rather enjoyed it. And saying something interesting about an outgoing President is hardly “sucking up to the powerful.” But I did wonder about that first line:
Really? Not Theodore Roosevelt, a prominent lover of reading and writer of significant books? Not Harry Truman, who was a voracious reader (particularly of history) in his youth? And those are just two off the top of my head.
What’s the Straight Dope: is this statement justifiable?
No, it seems hyperbolic to me. In addition to T.R. and Truman (about whom I agree with you), Garfield, Wilson, Kennedy and Clinton all read voraciously. Clinton once said one of the best things about being President was inviting your favorite authors to lunch and knowing they would come!