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Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, Rediscovered.

Throughout history, the reading of books, what kind, how many, how long, has been a sort of

armchair way of measuring someone's intelligence. It comes up a lot in presidential elections

and has been a subject of great fascination

with the current president, Donald Trump,

who we know from multiple accounts doesn't read much, if at all.

But how much do reading habits actually reveal about a president?

Here are stories of three former presidents at opposite ends of the reading spectrum.

You can decide for yourself.

Next to Trump, the president least inclined to read might have been Zachary Taylor. A biography of him says, quote,

his earliest surviving writing suffers from poor spelling and unusually bad grammar, while his hand

was that of a near illiterate. Taylor came from a modest upbringing. His father was a planter, and he had little formal education.

Taylor rose to become president in spite of his background, after his heroic military leadership in the Mexican-American War.

He died a short 16 months into his presidency without making much progress on the pressing questions of preserving the union

or dealing with slavery.

President James Buchanan, on the other hand, was much more literary.

Buchanan was a serious reader throughout his life.

He especially loved biographies of George Washington.

Buchanan's nephew described precisely how he read, which was a little odd.

The nephew wrote, quote,

no matter how many lights might be on in the room,

...