Comments on: Reading Books: 3 Out Of 4 Americans Do It

By: Books Go 2.0 » Chris Webb on Publishing, Media, and Technology

Books Go 2.0 » Chris Webb on Publishing, Media, and Technology — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:08:54 +0000

[…] of course is that book readers are alive and kickin’ despite the rumors of their death (3 out of 4 Americans read books) and like many others they are forming networks and relationships online. This is dead obvious to […]

By: Harry Robbins

Harry Robbins — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:10:13 +0000

This was a very informative web page. I am an exception to your stats— a male between the ages of45-55 who reads every historical romance (yes of the medaeval variety) I can get a hold of. I also read fantasy. (I’ve read all the Harry Potter’s) I now read an average of 10-12 of these types of novels per year. I never read but maybe 1 book a year until I was about 45. I never enjoyed reading as much as when I decided I wanted to write a book. Though I haven’t had any of my three high fantasies published. I intend to break into the market with high fantasy/romance. My favorite author is Karen Whiddon of Ft. Worth, Texas. I belong to the very renowned DFW Writer’s group. Hope you’ll be reading my novels soon.

By: jill

jill — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:36:36 +0000

I agree that our forebearers didn’t read more, since reading requires both education and time and that wasn’t a combination that most groups of people had access to until the twentieth century. Unless you were from a leisure class, or the upper part of the middle class that could afford to employ servants, you were probably too busy keeping house or working to have the time to read. And there have always been other distractions besides reading and television: talking with friends, playing cards, playing/listening to music, gambling, listening to the radio, going to the theater, board games, sports.

By: Sunday is fun day at pinkyspaperhaus

Sunday is fun day at pinkyspaperhaus — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:31:49 +0000

[…] 3 out of 4 Americans read books each year — how many of them are average, I’m not sure — and Kassia has my favorite thoughts on the State of Reading Today Sky Is Falling Crisis. […]

By: booklover

booklover — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:13:06 +0000

Kassia,
Well, you can put me in the category that does think our forebears read more. The reason? They had more time. They didn’t have the interference of the boob tube or the microchip and in many cases they had more time while they were taking trips, given that it took two weeks to cover ground that today we cover in an hour. I also think their appreciation of books was greater given the paucity of the supply (at least at the very beginning of our country’s journey). If you had to send away to Paris or London or later to New York to get a book, you appreciated it far greater than if all you had to do was drive to the mall. Just from my unscientific observations, I think about 60 percent of those who come into our store are there because they either need a book for school or work or because they are building a deck or some singular activity. The other 40 percent come in because they love books and want to read whatever it is that piques their interest. Finally, let me share with you an anecdotal piece from a time when I used to toil in the field of journalism. I was sitting in on jury selection for a trial concerning a corrupt public official. One of the questions asked of jurors was “how often do you read a book or newspaper”. By my count, 95 percent of those didn’t read either. Certainly not representative of the general population, I know, but scary nonetheless.

By: RfP

RfP — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:00:49 +0000

The National Endowment for the Arts found that in 2002, 9% of American adults read online and 12% listened to audiobooks. For what it's worth, this new AP poll's numbers are different from other (much larger, more carefully done) surveys by the Census, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, and others. I compared them in boring detail here. Basically, the other surveys find that more like 45-60% of Americans read books, not 73% as the AP found.