1 in 4 adults read no books last year

Originally Posted by Alan Fram, Associated Press

One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year -- half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read any, the usual number read was seven.

full article

I read this in the newspaper this morning and was appalled. I know the United States is a country of morons, but I don't think I'd ever have picked that 25% of us damn Yanks read no books at all in the past year and the median number of books read was a whopping four.

I looked up the full results of the poll, and the percentages are:

• 0 books: 27%
• 1: 4%
• 2: 6%
• 3: 9%
• 4-5: 11%
• 6-7: 7%
• 8-10: 8%
• 11-12: 4%
• 13-15: 4%
• 16-20: 5%
• 21-30: 6%
• 31-40: 2%
• 41-50: 2%
• 51+: 6%

The average number of books read was actually 14.9, which works out to one book every three and a half weeks. Of course, the poll didn't take into account newspapers, magazines, and other non-book word delivery systems, which I guess might be enough reading material for some people. But I can't imagine taking three and a half weeks for one book.

Also, 64% of people who said they read two or more books in the past year said that at least one of them was the Bible or another religious text.

Do you read? A little bit or a fuckton? I made a super scientific poll for this thread with the same numbers as the list above for you to super scientifically participate for SCIENCE. Discuss the AP-Ipsos poll, how much you read, how you grew up in a family that reads three old-growth forests worth of books per week (like mine), etc. here. READING MEGATHREAD

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I used to be a super reader in my teen years, eating book after book, but that was partly because it was pretty much the only thing allowed at home. =p

My reading rate have been going downhill eversince I left my parent's house around 7 years ago. That sucks and it makes me want to punch myself, but meh, it seems I constantly have some other petty thing to do. ~_~

There's nowhere I can't reach.

IF manga and international novels count as books then I average 20~30+ books total a year. If we're talking only American literature then 6-7 a year seems appropriate for my book count. That's my current count, when I was younger, I read half a book a day (Japanese though...so again, don't know if that counts).

I read all 42 volumes of Dragonball in a span of 12 hours once but that is so nothing to boast about...(rather ashamed of it actually)

How ya doing, buddy?

I read a lot more than my family does.

My father reads absolutely nothing. I once caught him with a copy of the DaVinci Code and went nuts on him. All this time of no reading, and he STARTS with Dan Brown?

My sister reads nothing but Greek philosophers and Ayn Rand. She's an ass.

It kind of surprises me, though. 0 books. I see a LOT of people reading books up here. I don't know about the REST of the country, though. =/

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

If we consider comic books, I read a shitload of them, only they're downloaded -_-. As for books, I like reading books, I read a lot of books when I was in my early teens. But these days, I barely have the time to sit down and read. Hell, in the past month, I bought 3 books and haven't finished any. And my friend lent me 2 books both I haven't finished reading (just scanned through it).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Do comics and graphic novels count? I probably read those more than regular books but I do enjoy those as well. I read about 4 to 5 a year, much more now however.

How ya doing, buddy?

I am reading through my fourth book this month; however, there are some months where I do not read so much. This depends on whether I spend some leisure time perusing bookstores or have a particular title recommended to me (Decline and Fall anyone?).

FELIPE NO

Three in the last year, I guess. That doesn't count manga. I've probably read a few dozen volumes of manga. My reading rate has been abnormally slow this year, I blame society. Seriously, I blame the fact that I left a bunch of my books with my old housemate when I moved out. I only just got those two boxes back last month, and now I can start reading again. ^_^

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Two. The last two Harry Potter books.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I rarely read. I've been reading a screenwriting book on and off for a few months now, and I read the first Harry Potter book a few months ago.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I read, occasionally slowly, but I probably read about 25 books last year; I'm including complete graphic novels in there (Sandman read again ++ mode (I count that as 1)), as well as short story collections; let's also not forget textbooks, of which I read one in its entirety for a test.

Oh, and stephen king. Let's not forget the Stephen King. Also other genre fiction.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

If you count technical manuals then I read a lot. When I was younger I could read 3-5 books a week but these days I rarely read books for pleasure.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Shorty

IF manga

NO!

Originally Posted by Vemp

If we consider comic books

NO!

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Do comics

NO!

Originally Posted by Gumby

If you count technical manuals

NO!

Originally Posted by TheDopefish

Harry Potter books

NO!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Probably around 2-3 Books so far this year that haven't been discounted for arbitrary reasons (As I read a decent number of Manga and Graphic Novels) and a few Technical Books as well.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

What about when you start a book, but don't finish it because it's boring you to death? Does that count?

I read more articles and crap online than actual books lately. I'm not really regular about it, though. Sometimes I read several books in a month, and sometimes I don't pick up a book for a couple months. I chose "6-7" in the poll, but that's an estimation.

This type of poll is sort of a bad way of figuring out how much people read, books being different lengths and all that.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

My sister reads nothing but Greek philosophers and Ayn Rand. She's an ass.

My god, I've never heard of a more carefully cultivated, affected taste. It's so bad too. I hope you taunt her endlessly for this.

As for me, after having an unfortunate run-in with L. Ron Hubbard in my youth, I don't read all that much. I've been trying to do right by picking out random books in the literature section of people I have heard positive things about*, but even still I probably only read about five or six books for pleasure in the last year.

* they were lying when they said all publicity is good publicity.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I put one. I've read it six times, to completetion, that I can remember, within the last three semesters.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

This year's been pretty bad for me reading books. I've only finished four so far. I grew up reading books all the time, probably for hours a day, but it's harder to find time to read now. Full-time school and near full-time work doesn't leave a ton of time for reading or other things. I wish I could count textbooks, but they're all math books for me now, nothing I can actually count as reading.

I still read the newspaper every day and I read magazines and articles online, so it's not like I hardly read anymore, it's just hard to find time to get through books.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

When I'm at school, I pretty much always have a book with me. I typically get to class early, so I read then. My calculus classes the last two quarters had really boring lectures and it would take the professor twenty minutes to get through an example, so I typically read through them, and I read at the dining hall whenever I went alone. I read during my free time, too, so I ended up reading a lot of books.

Now, I take a book with me to work and read during my lunch hour, and I read before going to sleep.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've always read a lot, and relatively quickly too. Because of my classes (English/Writing Major), I easily read 25 books before Spring semester was over. Summer I slowed down a bit... I'm still stuck on this one book that just started picking up (it only took a hundred or so pages!!! ). I read for pleasure, something I've actually gotten ridiculed for.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by a lurker

My god, I've never heard of a more carefully cultivated, affected taste. It's so bad too. I hope you taunt her endlessly for this.

How can you not taunt a girl like this?

She worships Plato and Socrates, thinks that they are some sort of ancient gods.

Last I saw her, she was reading "Socrates in Love," which I almost threw in the campfire upon spotting it in her handbag. Before that, it was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is a step up from anything with Socrates in the title, suppose. Her boyfriend at the time stole the book from her - for good or for bad, I am unsure. I hear a lot of people out there enjoyed this Motorcycle Zen shit. Me? I don't need a book to explore values. I AM A HEATHEN LIKE THAT. O, I almost forgot the God Delusion, which convinced her to become an atheist. She's vulnerable like that. My being an atheist for years and years and being pretty vocal about it always caught plenty of criticism from her. BUT SUDDENLY, A BOOK TOLD HER TO BELIEVE IN NOTHING. So she did.

Needless to say, my normal sub-intelligent taste in books makes her :frownyface:. I am a barbarian to her. I have no passion for philosophy therefore, I must be a complete moron. I pity the man who puts up with her in the future. (Presently, a 34 year old Brazilian who can hardly speak English. Smart of him, since they can only communicate in a primitive sign language at this point.)

I was speaking idiomatically.

Let us not forget in this day and age that a book isnt nessessarily something that SHOULD be read or SHOULD be considered a book.

How many of those people were reading Harry Potter and wrote down HEY I DONE READ BOOK IN THIS YEARS?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm not much of a reader to begin with. The book usually has to catch my interest PRETTY well for me to read it. Otherwise, I have no patience for it.

If anything from school counts, then it's probably about three or so. Otherwise, I wouldn't spend money trying to buy a book or anything.

FELIPE NO

Like niki, I used to read a lot more in early high school years..but not too much nowadays. Don't know why, the habit just...stopped.

I'm also quite surprised on the 0 count though..would have thought that people might at least grab 1 book during the entire year.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I read, at the very least, a book a week, so 51+ doesn't sound too unreasonable for my yearly total. Reading is fun! ::rainbow::

Jam it back in, in the dark.