One in Four Read No Books Last Year

[Newsjock]

Source: 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.

... Who are the 27 percent of people the AP-Ipsos poll found hadn't read a single book this year? Nearly a third of men and a quarter of women fit that category. They tend to be older, less educated, lower income, minorities, from rural areas and less religious.

... People from the West and Midwest are more likely to have read at least one book in the past year. Southerners who do read, however, tend to read more books, mostly religious books and romance novels, than people from other regions. Whites read more than blacks and Hispanics, and those who said they never attend religious services read nearly twice as many as those who attend frequently.

There was even some political variety evident, with Democrats and liberals typically reading slightly more books than Republicans and conservatives.

... Those likeliest to read religious books included older and married women, lower earners, minorities, lesser educated people, Southerners, rural residents, Republicans and conservatives.

Read more: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/21/national/w105824D93.DTL&tsp=1

[Mythsaje]

1. I probably read more books than most folks these days (real books, not kids' books)

while I was still in grade school.


So sad.

[villager]

3. um, define "kids books," since some of us on this board write them

and I think a lot of published YA rivals what gets published in the "grown up" division of publishing houses, in terms of imagination, topicality, etc...

[Mythsaje]

4. Oh, I agree about YA books...

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Dr. Suess and Dick and Jane books. YA books are "real" books by my lights. And stuff that straddles the line... Harry Potter, Diane Duane's "Young Wizard" series, and even a lot of Mercedes Lackey's stuff.

Of course, I was reading Heinlein, Foster, Asimov, Clarke, Herbert, and such back then.

[villager]

14. Hey, I think some so-called "grown ups" need to revisit their Suess...!

"The Butter Battle Book" and the "The Lorax" come leaping to mind, as two examples...

;-)

[Mythsaje]

15. The Lorax rocked! n/t

[tom_paine]

32. Sorry. The Lorax was executed by a CheneyBush Hit Squad

working BlackOps.

[karynnj]

34. Definitely true - especially when it was noted that many of the books were romance novels

My college student was appalled that they put the last Harry Potter book in the children's section. Her belief is that the last several books were much darker and required more maturity.

[RaleighNCDUer]

53. The books have grown up with their readers.

The 12 year old reading the first Harry Potter would be 21, today.

[karynnj]

59. Quite true

My middle daughter was 11 then and insists that was the perfect age for really being a Harry Potter fan - just as my being 13 in 1964 was the best possible age to be a Beatlles fan.

[Wwagsthedog]

2. Does "My Pet Goat" count? nt

[YvonneCa]

5. Quick...get their names and addresses from...

... the NSA and send them all a copy of Al Gore's book, "Assault on Reason." :7

[MisterP]

6. *spit take* AAAGGGH! *falls on floor*

[onehandle]

7. Thanks to Audible, I read more books than ever these days.

Audiobooks count, right? I don't have time for paper books. Maybe, 2 or so a year if not available on Audio.

I keep a book or two on my iPod Shuffle pretty much all of the time. I listen at the gym, while running errands, and doing chores around the house.

[Mythsaje]

23. LOVE audible

I'm currently listening to the 8th and final Dune novel.

[heliarc]

50. I don't have trees for paper books. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

55. Those just wouldn't do for me. I hate being read to.

There's something about the actual act of reading that I find addictive.

[enki23]

8. a good number of those who read probably count browsing "the bible" during church

.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. I wonder how many actually read it...

...and how many opened the book and listened while the passages were read to them.

[heliarc]

51. My mother gave me a bible when I was about 7...

And said "your father and I don't believe any of this, but there are some good stories in it, and lots of people believe that they are true" I thought that was pretty big of them.

I read a whole lot of the bible, and I think their preface predetermined that I wouldn't believe any of it either, but there's a lot of really juicy sex and violence in the bible. It can be a dry read in some places, but it's still fun to look at every once and a while. You certainly need it to understand references in most Western literature

[DavidDvorkin]

9. I'd like to know the numbers with religious books and romance excluded

Only real books count.

[Thothmes]

30. Real Books

What is you definition of a real book. Dosnt Bronte, Stocker, Shelly count.

[DavidDvorkin]

31. Sure, but those would not be excluded

"Romance" refers to the schlock published in that category nowadays, written within fairly narrow guidelines. When people say they read romance novels, they're not including older novels with romantic themes.

[mainer]

36. Wasn't Jane Austen a romance author?

And she was considered "schlock" in her time.

What you call schlock may be another reader's inspiration.

[yardwork]

42. Have you read the pulp that passes for romance and mystery fiction these days?

I love a good romance or detective novel, but most of what is being churned out these days bears no resemblance to the genre fiction of the 1960s, much less the 19th century. Publishing has become an industry like the "food" industry. The "religious book" industry is even worse. Again, I'm not talking about inspirational books. Even though those may not be everyone's cup of tea, they had value.

Most of the stuff being published by the mega-publishers these days is as close to real fiction - including good genre fiction - as cardboard is to cookies.

[mainer]

44. Readers are readers. We should be happy they're READING

I read everything, from history to lit to popular fiction. I work in the publishing industry. And it's attitudes about "worthwhile books vs. trashy books" that have turned so many young people away from reading entirely. Stephen King wrote an essay some years ago about how many readers we've lost because we forced kids to read books they didn't want to read. If it weren't for King and Koontz and, yes, Harry Potter, many boys wouldn't be reading at all.

As for romance "pulp", if you check the NYT bestseller lists lately, many of those authors used to write romance novels and have moved on to mainstream thrillers. So it's not as if they're dodos. Nor are their readers.

[yardwork]

46. I don't think that we disagree, really.

Yes, it's good for people to read. On the other hand, it's a shame that so much that is being published today is lowest common denominator. Very few risks being taken among the major publishers. That's not your fault, of course.

[mainer]

35. romance novels are not real books?

If it weren't for the romance novel industry, a lot of women wouldn't be reading any books at all. It's snobbery like this that discourages people from picking up any books at all. We should be celebrating ALL book reading.

I know too many people who've been made to feel they should only read "worthwhile" books by their snooty book club pals. And they hate those endlessly downbeat stories, so they jsut stopped reading at all.

[Occulus]

39. Odd you should say that...

Maybe I'm just not looking, or looking in the wrong places, but those shelves that are filled with romance novels are almost always full, and I don't recall ever having seen anyone pick one up, much less purchase one.

All the women I work with read big doorstop fiction, nonfiction, or biographies/autobiographies. I haven't ever seen any of them reading "romance" novels, but like I said, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough...

[mainer]

45. If romances aren't selling, why are so many being published?

Publishers don't waste their money putting out books unless they sell. Last time I checked the stats, romance novels constituted about 50% of all fiction sold.

And maybe your women friends are reading them in secret and not telling you!

It's been my observation that people tend not to brag about their "guilty pleasure" books such as Stephen King or Nora Roberts, and instead brag about having waded through Stephen Hawking. But when they buy a King or a Roberts, they actually READ THEM. As opposed to all those copies of Hawking that sit on coffee tables, never read.

[prole_for_peace]

10. unbelievable...i read two books this weekend alone..

"those who said they never attend religious services read nearly twice as many as those who attend frequently" that is a really interesting statistic. i guess i just have more time to read cause i don't have to spend so much time in church...

i love to read and can't imagine not have a book near me all the time. my mom read to me almost every afternoon when i was a kid and i think that is when i discovered how great books were.

when i was in college i would open my book of the moment and read before classes started. i would get asked what class the book was for. they LOOKS when i said that it wasn't required reading, i was reading for pleasure... it ws like these people had never heard of someone doing something crazy like that. it was wild...

[Kagemusha]

11. I'll be honest - I don't read many books. I read volumes and volumes yearly...

but little of that is BOOKS.

Recently I read through the whole Harry Potter series but that was a rarity. (I like being able to start and finish a series.) I'm a pretty fast reader too - just a quirk of mine..

I'm just saying, there's a lot of reading to be had without it being books *per se* these days.

[Barrett808]

43. Yup, I hardly ever read hardcopy any more.

Diving headlong into the high weirdness of the 21st century.

[Doctor_J]

12. No need to read when Rush, Bill, and Sean tell me all the truth I need

Ignorance will be at the root when our great experiment finally goes toes up.

[CK_John]

13. I think it is higher that. n/t

[Nostradammit]

16. The other one percent of Bush's base only got through the first chapter

of O'Reilly's drivel.

What percentage were reading Shakespeares?

[defendandprotect]

17. We have a really good library, but . . . ..

ironically it's now closed for four months or so while they make renovations!!!
Evidently, they couldn't find a way to keep the library open while this was going on -- !!??

When I was a kid of 6, I went to the library because I understood that they had answers there.
The woman in charge gave me a library card and showed me the books -- all fiction.
I didn't understand there were categories.
I read my way thru Nancy Drew and that was pretty much it.
I didn't find non-fiction until a long time later.

In fact, even until the last few years, my library was playing up fiction --

Today, they are featuring non-fiction more and showing off the books more and they are getting a bigger play.

On the other hand, we do have infiltration of non-fiction by heavy buying of religious books for the library, for one thing. Whenever I see one of them, I turn them upside down.

Twenty years ago when I woke up I turned to my library immediately --
the answers were there.

For the last twenty years I've read hundreds of non-fiction books every year --

Right now I'm a bit slowed down by the library closing -- !!!

At that time, C-pan was also bringing C-span 2 on line and it was quite something then.
Quite different from today.

[illinoisprogressive]

18. Female and i read history and non fiction and political books.

[saracat]

20. I am a NY transplant to the West,( years ago) female and I read too many books to count a year!

Seriously! My garage is full of books I read everything.Political, historical biography, fiction , suspense, historical romance , comedy.All of it. I must be odd.I am terrified of being without something to read. My car alwqays has a book in it.:shrug:

[Mythsaje]

24. You should consider reviewing...

It's a good way to get free books.

I can set you up. :)

[saracat]

25. Cool!

[Mythsaje]

26. Sure. PM me and I'll give you the link

They're always looking for new reviewers.

[JVS]

21. BOOKS SUCK!

[Angleae]

22. No books here

Unless you count the Internet or aircraft maintenance manuals (most of which are pulled up on a computer anyway). Printed books and newspapers seems to be slowly dying out in favor of electronic media.

[robcon]

27. I think the headline should be "3 of 4 Americans read a book last year."

not bad at all, IMO.

[donheld]

28. Mark Twain said

The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.

[skids]

29. Do technical manuals count? n/t

[heliarc]

48. That's what I wonder.

Plus I read lots of individual chapters of textbooks when I have a particular mathematical problem or Design consideration that I require clarification on.... Do Plays count?

[semillama]

33. I'm reading two books right now

I'm reading "Monty Python and Philosophy" as bedtime reading, and I am also reading Pete Dunne's "Essential Field Guide Companion" as couch reading downstairs. Often, I'll have a novel for reading before bed and a non-fiction book I'll be reading downstairs during the evening.

[mcscajun]

38. That's me, too. I used to read three at once, what you're doing plus

one for the train commute. I don't do that anymore, so I'm down to two; one upstairs, one downstairs.

:)

[slackmaster]

37. Can someone give me a link to a brief summary of the article?

There's just too much there to read.

[MilesColtrane]

40. I want the stats on Waffle House waitresses.

"What'cha readin' for?"

[FreeStateDemocrat]

41. "In 2004, a National Endowment for the Arts report titled "Reading at Risk" found only 57 percent,,,

of American adults had read a book in 2002, a four percentage point drop in a decade. The study faulted television, movies and the Internet."

From the same article and closer to what I would have expected, about half.

[KamaAina]

47. 27 percent is almost Bush**'s exact approval rating

Coincidence? I think not... :tinfoilhat:

[heliarc]

49. I started having my high school students read out loud...

And that was in an class on Audio Engineering... I found student's reading skills so atrocious that I had them start reading out loud. Horrible.

[Darkseid69]

52. Why read books?

When you can do all your reading online? It's the new paradigm, baby!

I think the last book I read was one of Howard Stern's books.. or maybe Blinded by the Right when it came out.

Laura Ingraham drunk on a barroom floor. hehe...

[JerseygirlCT]

54. This makes me very, very sad. I need to read like I need air

If I don't have a book, I'll find something else.

I cannot imagine losing the ability to read - it would be the hardest thing.

And I cannot imagine not loving it. Too much wonderful writing is going unread out there, too many people aren't being exposed to the good stuff in school, and from the requirements I've seen made on my own school kids, far too little is expected.

My HS-er had to read ONE book this summer. One. That's crazy. I can still remember most of the list of near a dozen that I was required to complete before freshman year in HS. (Yes in the stone ages). All of them good stuff -- even when I didn't much enjoy them. (Ick. Lord of the Flies. {{{shudder}}}).

[kskiska]

56. While out driving today I happened on Mike Gallagher's program

He was actually bragging about not reading books and inviting like-minded listeners to call in. They obliged. Some claimed they had more important things to do, like spending time with the family, instead of burying their nose in a book. Gallagher dissed his sister, who's a college professor "with all those letters after her name," for urging him to get an education (which he didn't). Then he went on to tell how his sister called to congratulate him when his book was on the NYT best seller list. I have to wonder why this guy would write a book, considering his aversion to them, and I also have to wonder who he thinks will read them, since he openly admires non-readers.

[Deja Q]

57. Considering offshoring and other factors, I wouldn't be entirely surprised either...

[maxsolomon]

58. i read like hell - local paper, NYT, magazines, online

but i don't think i made it through an entire book last year.

i'm reading sam harris now, so that should change.

[fightindonkey]

60. Bush, Cheney and Rove

[Blue_Tires]

61. ....

:yoiks: