Wednesday, August 22, 2007

13 Findings About the Reading Habits of Adults...

Folks, if the adults aren't reading why should we expect children to be motivated...

1. An Associated Press poll released yesterday advises one in four adults did not read any books in the past year.

2.Of the people who did admit to reading women and older people topped the avid reader list.

3.Religious works and popular fiction were the top choices for those who read.

4.One excuse mentioned in the article for not reading is that it makes you sleepy.

5.27 percent of those polled had not read a book at all.

6.The non-readers tended to be older, less educated, lower income, minorities, rural rather than city dwellers, and less religious.

7.One-third of the non-readers were men.

8. The people who did read complete and average of 9 books for women and 5 for men.

9. People with college degrees read more and and many that said they read often were over 50.

10. Two-thirds of the people polled stated they read the Bible and other religious works.

11.Only one in five persons said they read romance novels.

12. More women than men read every major category except for history and biography.

13. The poll was conducted over the phone with 1,003 adults participating.

The publishing industry has earned over $35.7 billion around the globe…3 percent more than last year.

Hmmmmm…..someone is reading or are they just buying books and propping the bed up with them?

Join in on the fun with Thursday Thirteen!

24 comments:

Special K ~Toni said...

Wow! I read every day! Surprised more people don't!

Jill said...

If they would have include blog reading, I wonder if the reading would have been higher??

The Gal Herself said...

This was a shocker. I had no idea there were so many non-readers! Every day on the train, almost everyone seems to have their noses in books or the morning paper.

Mama Kelly said...

I can't imagine not reading ANY books all year long ... I think I'd go mad.

Happy Th13

Mama Kelly
2witchesblog.wordpress.com

damozel said...

I place a lot of hope in the internet. At least FOR NOW, to reap the full benefit of the internet, you HAVE to read...though I suppose it will eventually be replaced by virtual reality...

PS. My blog ishttp://bucknakedpolitics.typepad.com/buck_naked_politics/

Lori said...

Unbelievable...I love to read!!! People dont know what they are missing:) Happy TT.

pussreboots said...

1003 people while a large number is not a significant polling sample for the adult population of the United States. I could redo the poll with 1003 American BookCrossers and get completely opposite results (probably 1 in 4 who don't read!)

Happy TT.

Nicholas said...

I don't know how accurately one can assess the readng habits of 300 million people from 1003 responses, but even so, it's sad that there is any quantity of people who never read.

Marina said...

Very good point about the sales versus reading numbers. Not time to panic yet!

Happy T13!

http://texasbookwoman.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-reading-challenges-thursday-13-5.html

Miss Blogger said...

I love reading. Even if my eyes are so tired and my body is screaming for sleep, I can't help but reach for a book and read at least 1 chapter before I close my eyes...

Happy TT!

Mine's up at http://yorokobee.akoni.info/

Qtpies7 said...

My husband does not read, he buys books once in a while, but never reads them. He gets headaches reading, so it just stopped and he doesn't even bother, though he intends to sometimes.
I love to read, and so do many of my kids.

30plusteacher said...

Thanks for the comments everyone and I agree that the results don't seem to add up.....

Pussreboots your argument regarding the sample population is the same one I often give regarding education research. I really doubt what many of these surveys seem to prove.

Qtpies, has your husband tried books on tape? I love to use them in the car.

YACWW said...

Interesting facts. I will definitly keep it in mind. Although, if you ask me the problem stems from schools. During my observations during grad school I saw kids who loved books when they were young as they got older they hated books. I think it is b/c schools had bad boring and old books. All the books chosen are morbid and history based. If they had more fun books w/ a bigger selection, I garauntee kids would keep reading all the way past high school.

30plusteacher said...

Yacwww Moderators, you haven't been in a classroom lately, have you?

There are all sorts of wonderful tradebooks, pictures books, biographies, etc. that are used in the classroom every day for students to utilize right along with textbooks. Boring? Never, not anymore. I have children in my room that fight over books.

tanabata said...

Those are fun facts! I'll never understand the non-readers but that's just me. :)

J. Lynne said...

This doesn't surprise me at all somehow. By the way, have you been in a bookstore lately, there's lots of other things to buy besides books in them these days.

Music Notes said...

I agree. Polls can be interesting, but the results can't be trusted.

I read all the time...even books.

EHT said...

A pox on that poll!

Readers unite!

elementary historyteacher said...

Read, read, read!

Mercy's Maid said...

I saw that poll and it made me sad.

I think I'm making up for a few people. I love to read and I'm working on my 62nd book of the year.

Anonymous said...

I need to read more. Great list.

Happy TT!

Denise Patrick said...

What a surprise!! I'm shocked that only one in five would admit they read romance, considering the market share that romance books command.

Happy TT!

Natalie said...

Very interesting. I cannot imagine going a day without reading!

Happy TT :)

Danika Dinsmore said...

Well, I have a lot of book furniture myself. Haha.

I can't believe #5 - 27% have read no books at all? I find that shocking.

I do agree about the number polled. I'm sure they tried to get a cross section, but everyone in my family reads, every single one of my friends reads, so we'd certainly tweak the poll.

qtpie7 - I used to be a vision therapist. We treated many kids who complained of headaches when they read. Usually the problem stemmed from not being able to converge their eyes properly, which can be fixed through training. There are other reasons, too. If he's interested, ask an optometrist about vision therapy. (although I'm sure the older one gets the more challenging it is to correct)