80 Percent Of U.S. Families Did Not Buy Or Read A Book Last Year.

I've said on a number of occasions that if I were to ever be taken hostage, they could lock me up in a library and I'd be a happy camper!

[chonsigirl]

6th graders read 3-5 books a year at my school, and sometimes more. They used to allow subject areas to select two books a year also-but the catch was, there are only classroom sets. You cannot send them home to assign chapters for reading to discuss in class. So that cannot happen, you need the time for teaching the curriculum.

(I had my GT science one year read War of the Worlds, we had so much fun)

[Kindle]

Originally Posted by spot

15% of Americans are currently being taught in the school system? You'd think they were obliged to read at least one book each year. Assuming they did and that the statistic is accurate and that children are spread evenly throughout families (a doubtful approximation, I grant you) it leaves sixteen American families in every seventeen reading nothing that year. Isn't it fun what numbers will do if you juggle them?

Some say that numbers do not lie.

Others say that numbers can be made to say whatever you want.

I say numbers are like politicians.

[wildhorses]

Originally Posted by Kindle

Some say that numbers do not lie.

Others say that numbers can be made to say whatever you want.

I say numbers are like politicians.

They tell you what they want you to believe.

[Touchstone]

Originally Posted by spot

A single person in a publishing company who doesn't say where his statistics originated - all he does is give a domain name of where he claims to have picked them up. It's a bit shoddy.

To be perfectly honest, that small clump of statistics in the opening post all stem, according to Mr Poynter, from Jerrold Jenkins - Mr Poynter gives a URL to Mr Jenkins' website - and I can't find Mr Jenkins giving those statistics there at all. Even if I did I find them somewhat unbelievable and I note that they're implicitly contradicted by other statistics on Mr Poynter's statistics page. I find it hard to believe, for example, that "1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives" when the same page tells me that 56.6% of adult Americans said they read at least one book, fiction or non-fiction, between August 2001 and August 2002. The margin there between 56.6% and 66.6% - just a 10% band - is very narrow to fit in the majority of Americans who aren't high school graduates who didn't read a book that year together with all the high school graduates who have read another book but none in that particular twelve months. It's just remotely possible. If it's true, it just goes to show how misleading it is to focus on pre-selected totals which are designed to give a false impression.

From the same page of Mr Poynter we can see that

38% of adults in 2006 said they had spent time reading a book for pleasure the previous day.

30% of 13-year-olds in 2004 said they read for fun "almost everyday," down from 35% in 1984.

2004. 56.6% of adult Americans said they read at least one book, fiction or non-fiction, between August 2001 and August 2002 compared to 60.9% ten years prior.

The number of adults engaged in reading literature - defined as novels, short stories, plays and poetry, and a focus of the study - was 46.7% in 2002, down from 54% in 1992 and 56.9% in 1982.

2001: People in the U.S. read an average of more than 14 books each year.

which gives a different feel entirely, don't you think? It doesn't give much justification for concluding that "I just can't really imagine a life without books, but most of our population obviously can".

You really seem to enjoy challenging threads don't you Spot?

You go to a great deal of effort and trouble in order to probably put new members in their place and then spoil it all by couching your correcting/chastising replies in such a way that you are most likely the only person who can understand what you are trying to say!

[Touchstone]

Originally Posted by G-man

I find it very hard to believe that 80% of Americans didn't read a single book in a year. I believe that 25% would be more likely.

Er Spot ... would you please put this guy in his place. He's challenging your statistics!

Or do you only do that to members who have just arrived here?

[spot]

Originally Posted by Touchstone

Er Spot ... would you please put this guy in his place. He's challenging your statistics!

Or do you only do that to members who have just arrived here?

Sunshine, I get called out by newbie punks about once a month, it's a bore. It's the first thing you did when you saw me.

I react to posts, not to people or how long they've been around. Why don't you try addressing the point instead of playing alpha-puppy? It was the "most" in "most of our population obviously can" which attracted my eye.

[Touchstone]

Originally Posted by spot

Sunshine, I get called out by newbie punks about once a month, it's a bore. It's the first thing you did when you saw me.

I react to posts, not to people or how long they've been around. Why don't you try addressing the point instead of playing alpha-puppy? It was the "most" in "most of our population obviously can" which attracted my eye.

ONCE when I was young I was beaten up by an older kid. It never happened again and it sure as hell ain't gonna happen on this Forum ... Sunshine!

[sunny104]

I read a few books a week, I have always enjoyed reading.

but I see reading as a hobby, not everyone is going to enjoy it obviously. And I definitely don't think it implies that someone is stupid or uneducated if they don't enjoy reading.

[flopstock]

I read at least 2 books a week. I'm not above finishing a book and reading it again next week in case I missed something..

But I've generally got a reference book going too... they take longer, because I like to skip around...

My little-one has AR in school and they set goals and grade levels on the books they need to read. She likes getting done before the other kids so that she can spend the rest of the semester reading anything she wants..

But I bet she's up around 3 books a week...