One in four adults read NO books last year

[cloudy]

This is frightening. Are we that weird?

article

 

[Vermilion]

but.......... how do they breathe?

 

[Stella_Omega]

but.......... how do they breathe?

Someone pushes on their chest for them.

 

[cloudy]

I've started my fourth this week.

Now, I realize not everyone reads that fast, but the article states that the average is four a year.

 

[Remec]

This is frightening. Are we that weird?

article

Maybe so. Although, I can easily see how that could be. I mean, until HP7 came out, I'm not sure what the last book was I read. So many other things that come up in the daily routine/schedule, that reading just sort of slips by me sometimes.


Is it too early to make a New Year's Resolution? (Or maybe we'll call it a late Mid-Year's Resolution. )

 

[Recidiva]

People use the internet much more, to read and write.

When I said once that I didn't read much recreationally any more, to someone on the internet, they said "Sure. And what are you doing now?" Lightbulb moment.

I edit for a living, I see words all day long. I read less. I suspect the same is true for others.

Fiction is often less interesting than real lives peeping through the cracks of the posting.

 

[rgraham666]

Shrugs. Repeated studies show that about half of North Americans are functionally illiterate. So this doesn't surprise me.

Also, from what I've observed, there is a strong impulse towards that. The paradigm of the 'plain spoken common man' has a strong allure here. Even I play into it with my constant pointing out that I never finished high school.

 

[Vermilion]

I've started my fourth this week.

Now, I realize not everyone reads that fast, but the article states that the average is four a year.

well, IRL I read maybe 3 or 4 a week if I can find enough books that I am interested in, on a holiday I can easily get through 8 in a week...
<sigh>
makes the luggage heavy and the book bills are extortionate...

Mind you, the fiance is much slower, but has far better retention. I have a re-read cycle of about 5 months, because I forget what happens so quickly.
x
V

 

[Stella_Omega]

Fiction is often less interesting than real lives peeping through the cracks of the posting.

Isn't that the truth!

 

[Guest]

I want to tell myself that I couldn't imagine of such a thing.

And then I look at my husband. Nope, not one book all year.

I can have up to three going at once in the same day, and of course there has to be something to read for those personal moments, just a snatch here and there.

My son is a reader.

 

[buxxxom]

I figure I can take up the slack for about 30 of them.

30 adults x 4 books per year =120 books. That would make me average about one every 3 days, not counting major holidays where family won't leave you alone. So, yeah, I'm good for 30.

 

[Liar]

I've started my fourth this week.

Now, I realize not everyone reads that fast, but the article states that the average is four a year.

Well, four to eight a year by my own volition seems about right. That's all I can muster between course books. I'm a very selective reader these days.

 

[3113]

Sad truth. Every time I visit the homes of certain relatives the one thing I always notice is...no books on the shelves. It mystifies me because I can't have enough shelves in my home to handle all the books. My husband noted that among his relatives, there's usually only one book in the home: The Bible.

I do notice that such people read magazines--or flip through them as they seem to be mostly pictures rather than articles.

 

[oggbashan]

No wonder I couldn't make any money as a secondhand book-dealer.

However, there are more new book titles published every year in the UK than in the previous year, and new book sales are continuing to set records year on year. Whether they are read? That's another question. Some people buy books as furniture.

I have slowed down in recent years, but my usual reading rate is 3 to 6 books a day. My wife manages 3 to 4 or month. Both of us read the daily and Sunday broadsheet newspapers, four local paid-for weekly newspapers, and three free newspapers.

Og

 

[buxxxom]

I have slowed down in recent years, but my usual reading rate is 3 to 6 books a day.

Holy cow! Is that start to finish, or you usually have that many going at one time?

 

[oggbashan]

Holy cow! Is that start to finish, or you usually have that many going at one time?

Start to finish.

When I used to commute by train to London, I'd read 3 or 4 on the way to London and another 3 or 4 on the way back home. Then I'd read on the underground as well and a couple before going to sleep.

Now I've retired I've got less time...

Today so far: The Early Asimov Vols 1 and 2; A local history; Jessie Mothersole: The Saxon Shore; and another local history(total 5). I'll probably finish another before I go to sleep.

Og

 

[tickledkitty]

The really frightening thing is that these people who don't read are probably raising children who don't read, and that is a shame.

My daughter has had books--real ones, not just board books or those plastic baby ones--since she was old enough to sit up and hold one in her hands. She has always loved them. She's got shelves full now. Sure, a few of them did get ripped, and some got marked up with crayons, but she learned very quickly about how to treat them. She's 6 and starting kindergarten next week. She's been able to read for 2 years now. Not sure how that's going to pan out for her in kindergarten, especially in this neighborhood, but we shall see.

Ok, enough patting myself on the back.

 

[Pure]

good point cloudy.

this 'only in america' phenomenon is peculiar to the US. things are better in the most 'backward' countries, so called, like Bulgaria.

in my thread about "intellectuals" i just posted about the correlative 'common man's hatred of "intellectuals",-- fanned by right politiciams-- and embrace of GWB's 'gee whiz i can't speak English' approach.

==

who is the most illiterate repug contender? huckabee? maybe he's the next pres?

 

[john-the-author]

Having lived in Indiana for a couple years, I think that a great many of the people in question are there. There is definitely a statistical correlation between this and and the folks who think that Shrub is a good idea. (Again, citing Indiana and Dan Quayle.)

I don't get to read many books these days, but it's still 2-3 a week. THis doesn't count the amount of reading I'm getting online as well as the writing I do for my job.

 

[glynndah]

I think I read over 500 a year, so I'm really blowing the averages, too.

 

[cloudy]

I think I read over 500 a year, so I'm really blowing the averages, too.

I probably do, too, although I've never actually counted..

 

[sr71plt]

I do count. Average 40 books read a year, not counting the books edited (usually around a dozen of those). I keep count because I found myself rereading (worse, rebuying) if I didn't keep lists. I think when one does actually keep count, they find they're not reading nearly the number they assume they are.

 

[christabelll]

For myself I average about 5 books a week give or take depending on the pocket book and the library offerings

Once I figured out how to read (summer after 3rd grade) I was voracious.
By 10th grade I had read well over 500 hundred books and now it numbers in the 1000's.

What I hate is buying what I think is a new book and realizing after I get it home I have read it before LOLOL the local stores have started to look at me funny LOL

Both of my children love being read too and are at that age where its instill a love of books and reading or have it as an only as required skill...luckily I think the former is happening.

In between work, writing and commuting I steal moments to read - like here....
But I can plow through a book in a day if I have it to hand...
My favorite place to read is in bed - and I rarely fall asleep reading...

I know some people who only read technical or how to books.
Some only read factual recounts
but me... I read almost everything I can get my hands on with the exception of newspapers and technical books LOL

 

[cloudy]

I do count. Average 40 books read a year, not counting the books edited (usually around a dozen of those). I keep count because I found myself rereading (worse, rebuying) if I didn't keep lists. I think when one does actually keep count, they find they're not reading nearly the number they assume they are.

Well, I've started my fourth so far this week. I'll be through with it tonight or tomorrow. I can get in two more before the week's over...that's about average.

So, six a week = 312 year, although in actuality, it's probably a little higher than that, because I'm outside a lot this time of year, and not stuck inside due to bad weather.

 

[cloudy]

For myself I average about 5 books a week give or take depending on the pocket book and the library offerings

Once I figured out how to read (summer after 3rd grade) I was voracious.
By 10th grade I had read well over 500 hundred books and now it numbers in the 1000's.

What I hate is buying what I think is a new book and realizing after I get it home I have read it before LOLOL the local stores have started to look at me funny LOL

Both of my children love being read too and are at that age where its instill a love of books and reading or have it as an only as required skill...luckily I think the former is happening.

In between work, writing and commuting I steal moments to read - like here....
But I can plow through a book in a day if I have it to hand...
My favorite place to read is in bed - and I rarely fall asleep reading...

I know some people who only read technical or how to books.
Some only read factual recounts
but me... I read almost everything I can get my hands on with the exception of newspapers and technical books LOL

Try Bookmooch. Its a godsend for those of us who are voracious readers.