No, not that kind of book report. This is my annual report on my reading from the previous year. And it’s a depressing report: total books read last year, a mere 37. 2011 was 31 and 2010 was 46; but 2009 was 60. That’s as long as I’ve been keeping records. The big question for me is why the totals have dropped so dramatically from 2009?
I am ahead of the average American reader. The Pew Research Center jut published their findings on reading in America. It’s called “The Rise of E-reading.”* Here’s a summary of the results:
Americans 18 and older read on average 17 books each year. 19% say they don’t read any books at all. Only 5% say they read more than 50.
Fewer Americans are reading books now than in 1978.
64% of respondents said they find the books they read from recommendations from family members, friends, or co-workers.
The average reader of e-books read 24 books (the mean number) in the past 12 months; the average non-e-book consumer read an average of 15.
I’m well ahead of the average (I also read e-books but just include them in my total with print books), but I’m way behind where I think I should be. Why is that?
It’s entirely possible that my list of books read is not accurate; I could easily have forgotten to record some. But I don’t think that would be many. I also read a lot of magazines: The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, The Threepenny Review, The Sun, Opera News, Smithsonian Magazine, The Gay and Lesbian Review, and, occasionally, The Atlantic. I also read a number of articles each day from The New York Times. Then there are the articles that friends forward, for example articles from The Wall Street Journal, sent by my Libertarian friend Phil. All that magazine and newspaper reading takes time away from books. I do include the books I’ve been reading for my classes at the University of Chicago, but those are often stretched out over a number of weeks; and I don’t include the books we only read selections from. Another factor is quite simply that I no longer have the ability to concentrate like I used to; I sit for a while and my knees start to ache or my back begins to hurt; in other words: old age is interfering with my reading. And then there are movies and TV; Netflix is not a friend to readers.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I certainly plan on reading more. 37 books a year? Not acceptable.
*http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/
I am ahead of the average American reader. The Pew Research Center jut published their findings on reading in America. It’s called “The Rise of E-reading.”* Here’s a summary of the results:
Americans 18 and older read on average 17 books each year. 19% say they don’t read any books at all. Only 5% say they read more than 50.
Fewer Americans are reading books now than in 1978.
64% of respondents said they find the books they read from recommendations from family members, friends, or co-workers.
The average reader of e-books read 24 books (the mean number) in the past 12 months; the average non-e-book consumer read an average of 15.
I’m well ahead of the average (I also read e-books but just include them in my total with print books), but I’m way behind where I think I should be. Why is that?
It’s entirely possible that my list of books read is not accurate; I could easily have forgotten to record some. But I don’t think that would be many. I also read a lot of magazines: The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, The Threepenny Review, The Sun, Opera News, Smithsonian Magazine, The Gay and Lesbian Review, and, occasionally, The Atlantic. I also read a number of articles each day from The New York Times. Then there are the articles that friends forward, for example articles from The Wall Street Journal, sent by my Libertarian friend Phil. All that magazine and newspaper reading takes time away from books. I do include the books I’ve been reading for my classes at the University of Chicago, but those are often stretched out over a number of weeks; and I don’t include the books we only read selections from. Another factor is quite simply that I no longer have the ability to concentrate like I used to; I sit for a while and my knees start to ache or my back begins to hurt; in other words: old age is interfering with my reading. And then there are movies and TV; Netflix is not a friend to readers.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I certainly plan on reading more. 37 books a year? Not acceptable.
*http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/
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