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Book Reading Statistics in the USA
Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta
This was shocking to me, I would have never thought so at all, but I have no reason to disbelieve these statistics (It is a PDF file - the statistics are around page 15-17 - Ed)
- 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school
- 42% of college graduates never read another book
- 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
- 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years
- 57% of new books are not read to completion.
- Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
I am dumbfounded but well, that's where it is coming from. I then tried to think about the financial markets where I work. This industry is perhaps having the most intelligent, educated and wealthy lot globally compared to other industries. And they do not read that many books. If you walk across a trading floor and ask how many fiction and non fiction (non-financial) books they have bought and read, you would hit perhaps 10% - 20% level who would say yes.
And having been around the world, I would say that the above US statistics are on the top end of the scale, most other countries will have much lower numbers of readership, ownership and purchasing. Either books are way too expensive or they are too time consuming. My father, the archetypal absent minded professor of engineering with 18 degrees in engineering, I can never remember seeing him reading anything that was fiction or non-fiction (non-engineering) related. So that's what my thoughts are about other countries, do you think that other countries have better readership, book ownership and purchasing statistics?
Last night, I had the privilege of being with a load of authors and publishers and teachers and writers and people of that ilk. All they said was that the mainstream publishing business has been reduced to chicklit, celebrity fiction and misery fiction. Nothing more nothing less. Well, not surprised. I attended the London Book Fair last year, supposedly the largest commercial Book Fair in the world, and I have no reason to think that this narrowing of publishing to chicklit is anything but global. (curiously, I did not manage to find any global statistics on this industry)
But a bit sad at the loss of the bibliophilic and logophilic gene in our society.
Book Reading Statistics in the USA
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A. S. Mathew
October 27, 2007
04:48 PM
Indeed, it is quite surprsing to know that average Americans are so behind in general
knowledge. Even some of the answers given by the
high school students in geography was shocking.
Most of the young and old spend hours before T.V.
or music and they never like to read. Reading
makes a person rich in knowledge, and very sad to say that they never made use of the great
opportunity properly.
Parmdan
October 27, 2007
05:38 PM
you said you're surprised by these statistics. Living north of this cultural wasteland (ie in Canada), I am not at all surprised. I've met many university educated people who know nothing of the world outside of their state...never mind outside their country. That is why, for example, it's easy to go to war with an unreal enemy when most of your citizens (and non-citizens) have never travelled abroad, and therefore know nothing about it. Dont forget that this is the country where something like 90% of the poeple dont have a passport. The moron in the charge didnt leave the US until after he got "elected" in 2000!
Ruvy in Jerusalem
October 27, 2007
06:03 PM
bd,
Contented cows do not do skull-work. And reading is skull-work.
'Nuff said.
bd
URL
October 27, 2007
06:20 PM
Well, parmdan, it is a bit shocking to see the statistics written in such a bare manner, kindda shocking!
But as i mentioned, the sad part is that those statistics are the best compared to other parts of the world. In the latest economist, this was written:
"in a recent survey (in Chile), 45% said they never read books and 34% did so only occasionally."
but lets not go there with dubya! lol. I remember a pithy comment I had made 7 years ago when there was a debate about kerry versus bush. "Both are idiots, but I would prefer to have a steadfast idiot rather than a flip flop idiot". What a choice!
Vivek Sharma
URL
October 27, 2007
08:09 PM
I think we have lesser people reading books (per 1000 literate people) than ever in history (counting only time after printing press)!:)
These statistics are fairly accurate. I recently found out that you can go through Engineering in best Mumbai colleges using special tuitions, and without actually reading even the engineering books! Fiction and non-fiction are too much to expect and poetry is no show!
Silmandil
May 4, 2008
11:52 PM
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=891
Only 9% of adults report reading 0 books in a typical year.
Perhaps _Teaching Sells_ has an agenda.
Perhaps Bhaskar should cite a semi-legitimate source next time.
bd
URL
May 5, 2008
04:51 AM
the fact that Teaching Sells has an agenda could well be true, Silmandil. But unfortunately, I cannot go back in time and find this new poll to reflect it, lol :)
but thank you for that update, it is indeed gratifying that americans are reading more than previously thought.
Curiously, the teaching sell's document refers to some other statistics which are not covered by the harris poll, specifically those relating to families... curious..
bd
URL
May 5, 2008
05:01 AM
Silmandil, here's another penguin book reference which I saw in an email. Might be useful and somebody will review it soon on DC so might get more infor...
THE DUMBEST GENERATION: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein (on sale May 15, 2008) - In this provocative new book, author Mark Bauerlein offers a dire report on the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its impact on American democracy and culture. According to recent reports from the NEA, most young people in the US do not read literature, visit museums or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation asks: Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up?
Sumanth
May 5, 2008
04:20 PM
Before the web 2.0 era, we were only dependent on what the mentally challenged arts graduates in media used to feed us daily.
Today, all the statistics are available in internet. One can easily construct true social indicators very easily.
Other statistics related to US include, 1 in 4 teenage girls there suffer from STD and fatherless children have 20 times more chance to commit crimes.
In Germany, more than 30% people are functionally illiterate.
Self-hating Indians have to go a long way before buying second hand social concepts from these western countries.
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