The Book on the Bookshelf
A few years ago I read a book entitled The Book on the Bookshelf which addressed the social history of well, the bookshelf. I’m a huge fan of cultural history books like that which delve into such deeply significant topics such as how the physical presentation of a text influences our encounter with it. Yet in the most recent chapter of American cultural history it appears that such encounters are occurring much more infrequently as books remain to collect dust on bookshelves. According to recent studies reported by NPR -
Americans—of either gender—are reading fewer books today than in the past. A poll released last month by The Associated Press and Ipsos, a market-research firm, found that the typical American read only four books last year, and one in four adults read no books at all.
A National Endowment for the Arts report found that only 57 percent of Americans had read a book in 2002 a four percentage-point drop in a decade. Book sales have been flat in recent years and are expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Among avid readers surveyed by the AP, the typical woman read nine books in a year, compared with only five for men. Women read more than men in all categories except for history and biography.
Four books a year on average! Nine for avid female readers! I personally find those statistics disturbing. I’ve lamented how few books I read now that I am a mom with a toddler to keep up with and those numbers are even less now that I am currently reading more non-fiction instead of fiction. I remember the time when I read every single one of Agatha Christie’s works (100+) in a three week period. I feel lucky to read a book a week these days, which is still 4 books a month not a mere 4 books a year.
I’ve always loved to read and so have a hard time understanding the complete and utter lack of interest others have towards books. Sure, I understand that life is filled with distractions and other ways to engage oneself. I watch my fair share of TV, I socialize, I clean the house (occasionally), but I still read. And although I do read academic tomes from time to time, I do not eschew the popular (I read freaking Star Wars novels for crying out loud – although I do avoid Christian fiction like the plague). Reading is just too much a part of who I am and how I process the universe not to engage in it.
So if people aren’t reading, how do they engage with the world? How do they grow as people? How do they not become stagnant in their opinions and beliefs? How do they acquire and pass on knowledge to their children? Or do the majority of Americans just not care about such things?
julieclawson(at)gmail(dot)com 
I’m of mixed minds regarding the study and results. Of course, it’s important for people to read, read broadly and often. However, and I don’t think this is the case, but if it were that people were spending time usually spend reading books on different activities–volunteering, web surfing, attending church, etc.–then I think society would survive just fine. As it stands, however, with Americans watching an average of 3 hours of TV a day, I don’t think there’s much time left for the brain.
Here’s a similar article from the Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/arts/19nea.html?ex=1353214800&en=13a4a38384b44a75&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Off to read a book…
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Oh my goodness…seriously? I knew people were reading less, but THAT much less? How do people live without books, and learning, and mind stretching concepts? Are we that apathetic? Or do we think we know it all? Or are we just lazy?
Give me a book and you give me the world…..
I’m a huge reader too (1-3 books a week–I don’t have kids yet :]), and it disturbs me that the statistics are this bad. Although, it doesn’t really surprise me. Working in a university setting its so apparent which students read and which have simply watched TV their whole lives. James Schall has a really good essay on the importance of reading in his book “Another Sort of Learning”. One of the points he makes is that to encounter the “great minds” we must read, because its highly unlikely that there will be more than one or two “great minds” alive during our own lifetime. So to learn and to grow we must read because we cannot interact with them in person. However, nobody really seems to care about the “great minds” anymore, not when you’ve got great bodies (celebrities) and reality TV. Life is no longer about becoming someone in terms of character or knowledge, but about becoming someone in terms of beauty and fame. Education versus Glamour.
With statistics like that for book-reading, it’s a wonder how Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other bookstores can keep opening new stores. Who’s buying all these books? Although I’m sure it’s worth noting the article you site refers to reading books, not buying them. I would be guilty of buying many more books than I read.
I wonder though how many of these people who aren’t reading books are reading things online. I’m not sure we’re becoming less literate. I think maybe our forms of literacy are simply in transition.
9 books makes you an avid reader- good grief!!!
I have no idea. My own reading got a pretty serious cutback when I started writing so hard. But that means maybe a couple a month for awhile?
But then, lots of people don’t read. It’s kind of a personal thing, it seems. I can’t imagine it, but many people pick up a lot of their information in conversations.