The average Joe reads 1/2 a book a year! !!

“This thread has been spurred by the GMAT/LSAT thread that I started yesterday.

I heard about a year ago that the average american reads .5 books a year. At first I found this hard to believe since I have 4 barns and nobles and 3 boarders with in 15 minutes from me. Then it hit me. First, I live in yuppie vill and maybe in the centralor west states they don't read as much. Second, maybe people buy books but never really read them.

My first point is not to insult anyone from the midle states. I was just thinking that part of the sterio type "hick" my apply here.

I fall into the second point all the time. I have books every where, but I don't read them all. Yeah I'll get to them, but some times I buy like 3 books on one topic read 2 of them and then get board with the subject. But either way that puts me over the .5 books a year mark.

I think I read about 12 books a year now, excluding school work. My shelves are mostly filled with political or buisiness books. The only fiction book on my self thats not school work is LOTR.

As much as I love reading leadership and political books, I think I need to splash in some fiction, to improve my writting skills. I found that when I was reading LOTR my writting skill skyrocketed, I could think of adjectives and verbs faster then ever before. Now I haven't read a fictional book (sparknotes don't count) in like 6 months. I typicaly do not read fiction because I see it as TV, not much better. The reader gets a good feeling at the end of the story, just like TV, but has learned little.”

“Does that figure include magazines with centerfolds?”

“no, books only.


Yeah thats another thought. Alot of peopler read magazines, whether porno or popular mechenics.”

“"I found that when I was reading LOTR my writting skill skyrocketed, I could think of adjectives and verbs faster then ever before."

But the spelling went out the window??

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.

Seriously though T, you raise a good point. It's pathetic that Americans feel they have to have someone else create an image for them on a screen. Reading is dead in the USA because imagination is dead. I mean, all one has to do it take a look at what is on TV or playing in mainstream movie theaters to see that Americans lack:

a) concentration
b) creativity”

“i know im going to get mocked really hard for this, and nobody believes me when i say it, BUT I REALLY DO READ THE ARTICLES IN PLAYBOY.I swear to god. no lie. really. honestly.”

“My spelling did get better, but it has platoed since then.”

“i read a moderate amount of comic books (about 10 a week). im reading moby dick right now, averaging about a chapter a day. i take it backpacking and read it between calls or on break at work. its tempting to say what a bunch of lazy doofuses we are because we dont read, but we dont read because we have more choices for entertainment. 200 years ago, reading was just about all there was for entertainment. but it is sad that ppl dont want to invest anything into their entertainment. i admit to not being very creative, for my own part, and know i should read more.”

“We are a barely literate nation. With that comes very poor communication skills.

I read at a collegiate level in 5th grade. I found out years ago that I had to edit how I speak because the big words confuse people.”

“I do a whole, whole lot of reading. I was always into it, since the first days of learning how. I've just accepted that some people are readers and some aren't, although I would agree there are less "readers" in the U.S.”

“I always keep a book in my car so if I’m somewhere that I have to wait I can be reading. I flew out to Colorado yesterday and made sure I brought a book along. I can’t survive a flight without a book to read.”

“My first point is not to insult anyone from the midle states. I was just thinking that part of the sterio type "hick" my apply here. - Ice Tea

LOL, don't worry Tea, we hicks in the "midle" states will not worry about being "sterio type" about reading from you. ;)
My family has always read. I can not go to sleep without reading at least a little.”

“I read TONS of mostly fiction books. I spend a LOT of time in waiting rooms, court & surgery. Keeps me out of trouble & passes the time.”

“Tea, I hope that, along with your college education, you get to travel a little bit. You might actually observe intelligent people who don't happen to live on either coast. As shocking as that might sound, there are some people who live in "fly-over" country who are avid readers. In fact, I would put the public education in most Midwestern states up against the schools of either coast.”

“Reading is fun just do it.


8)”

“Dundan and SS,

I was hypothosizing there, and that was the reason for the disclaimer. I understand what the left does not, that there are voters between JFK airport and LA international.


*inteligent voters”

“*voters, people, samething”

“look, ice, i like you, but the liberal-slamming is a bit childish. leave it out.”

“I read a book once...”

“i mean, really, that is such a sad, tired, cliche, i dont even think strat believes it.”

“i wonder how many cookbooks jello fog has read”

“Its like an addiction for me. LOL I am really ... no comments from the peanut gallery... hyper. I am like catskhiker and have to carry a book with me whenever I am required to wait somewhere. I cannot sit still for a 2 hr movie. Miss "Springs in her butt" still.. I can read. Like newgirl, I learned young and have delved into it over the years. It was like learning a new language and opening up a whole new world to me. I get distracted easily by somethings. I catch myself wandering around with a toothbrush in my jaw and a book in my hand. He laughs at me for it. I hate hate to sit still for albuterol treatments so I keep a pile of books by the vanity to read while I take one. Its sad that so many persons have never discovered the pleasure of reading.”

“when i was an english major in college, there was such a massive amount of reading required, it became a real chore. but i never really lost my love of a good read.”

“That Joe guy must be an idiot.”

“or bacpac”

“As far as your equating fiction to TV.

TV is written for the "Average Joe's" consumption. You know, that barely literate sterotype we were discussing? It has to be written at a sixth grade level in vocabulary and comprehension and be able to entertain a short attention span audience. Abstract concepts and references that require an expansive knowledge base never succeed with TV for the general populace. The noted exception is some of the PBS programming.

Bad fiction is just TV for those who have a slightly longer attention span than the TV crowd.

Good fiction is the opposite. It assumes the reader is literate, has a large vocabulary, can grasp abstract concepts and a long attention span.

In short, good fiction assumes the reader is intelligent.

TV assumes the viewer is an idiot.”

“Sherazade...Tales of the Arabian Nights. I've always wanted to, and now, I am.”

“i think the last non-fiction i read was spong's "rescuing the bible from fundamentalism"”

“even "educational television" is, to a certain extent, dumbed down.”

“Dunadan tells the funniest jokes, doesn't he?”

“Yeah, I read half his book last year, and it was funny as hell!”

“The good news is that the average Mike reads 3 books per year and the average Harold reads 37.”

“You guys read?”

“I see a lot of funny markings on this screen, and sometimes I feel compelled to add some of my own, but I'm not really sure what any of them mean...”

“LMAO!! Violin, you're too much.

i read about one book a week, or one every two weeks if the book isn't that great. and i also read the articles in Playboy. thank you, thank you very much!”

“They have articles?”

“ha! :-)”

“Yah, the centerfold has a little something about the Playmate of the Month on the back. I usually read that.”

“Courses about public speaking often suggest that one aims their presentation at the 7th/8th grade level and length about 7-10 minutes--the time between TV ads.”

“I could read before I started school, and until I started seriously attending college in my 30's, I never went anywhere without a book. I still say I learned more from reading on my own than I ever learned in any college classroom.
There's always a box of books in the back of my car when I'm on vacation, and I often buy books along the way. I bring along books backpacking as well.

Tea, I was raised in rural Maine. Dirt road, outhouse, no running water. No access to a bookstore or library. However, I've always been able to write an intelligible sentence, and was spelling bee champion in my school.

And if I was into generalizations and stereotyping (like you), I'd say you are a snot nosed punk. But I'm not, so I won't say it. :)”

“LMAO @ twiggy. You are one of a kind!”

“good one twigeater..lol”

“Books rule! I'm always reading at least one.

Tea, that's great you might give fiction another shot. Turn on the TV in your head! :-)”

“It always amazes me how people get on a flight with nothing to read and sit there staring into space for several hours.”

“They're probably stoned.”

“that thousand yard stare :o)”

“They're probably stoned."
bitpusher
09:30:00 AM
05/13/03

and what is wrong with that :)”

“Nothing, as long as it's not the pilot...”

“it took my a while to learn to read but when i got it i was better then most at my grade level”

“My wife doesn't like to read much, so it bugs her to death when I sit there and read instead of just staring at the tv with her. I pray I can get my kids interested in reading someday.
I guess having kids would be the first step.”

“At least Violin understands my third-grade humor. I'm sure that he loves my second-grade haiku, also.”