Gawker
According to an AP poll, basically no American reads any books anymore. Well, the "typical person" claimed to have read four books, with half of respondents claiming to have read fewer and half claiming to have read more. God, was The Da Vinci Code too hard, guys? What about the work of Zane, did its hot pink covers not entice you? Or the Bible, or Danielle Steel? You people could not even manage Danielle Steel?
Apparently not: "'I just get sleepy when I read,' said Richard Bustos of Dallas, Texas, a habit with which millions of Americans can doubtless identify." Also, "'Fiction just doesn't interest me," said Bob Ryan, 41, who works for a construction company in Guntersville, Alabama. 'If I'm going to get a story, I'll get a movie.'"
However, according to trade organization Book Industry Study Group, about 3.1 billion books were sold last year worldwide. So either everyone else on the planet is smarter than Americans or there is a giant castle somewhere in the Midwest built out of copies of, like, French Women Don't Get Fat.
Comments
Well, there wasn't a new Harry Potter book last year, was there? So of course most people didn't read!
Americans are buying plenty of books.
My dad read Anne Rayndy's The Roadhead... depressing
It's my birthday and if I wasn't already depressed enough, now this. Christ!
Notice that the people quoted live in fly-over states, so they commute in their cars (or live in their cars). Taking the train every day is what feeds my reading habit. It's free reading time. I estimate that I read around 30 books last year, so I'm doing my part to kill the curve. But yeah, these people are morons.
@HeyThereKiller: somehow i ruined an already terrible joke by thinking the headline said something about parents...
i fold
This is possibly the most depressing thing I've read all week. So not only will everyone be fat, they'll also be illiterate. I'm moving to Holland.
Don't worry ... As soon as they figure out how to make "Reality Books," everything will be fine.
@Pangloss: Happy Birthday, Pang/Loss!
Of course people buy books...they buy whatever Oprah tells them to. If she told them to go back to VHS, the DVD industry would crash. But what percentage of those who purchase Oprah's books do you think actually read them? Surely, millions of housewives were not sitting at home reading Faulkner. I would say they made it through one, maybe two pages, before putting it down and unmuting Dr. Phil.
Does the Family Circle Ultimate Collection book I read count?
@guevara284: No! Come to France with me! They don't get fat and there's champagne direct from the source!
@mathnet: Merci beauc, babe. Pangs end at 11:59 tonight. 13 hours and counting.
One in four Americans didn't read a single book last year and yet bookstores have grown so large that they have food in them.
Were we reading more in the 90's when the options were Where's Waldo, Magic Eye books, and Griffin & Sabine?
@c_webb: blogspot.com
Earlier this week, I heard someone pronounce "book" with the short "oo," like in "look."
What a moron. BOOK.
I was going to sit down with an epic tome this weekend but I dropped the book on the TV remote and was sucked into a "Rock of Love" marathon.
After two episodes, I was left with such a superiority complex I realized I could live out the rest of my days without making a single effort towards self-improvement.
I am one in four Americans.
"Fiction just doesn't interest me" ... "If I'm going to get a story, I'll get a movie."
Because if culture has taught us anything, it's that everything you see in movies is TOTALLY TRUE.
This is why people who fancy themselves to be fiction writers--writers of adult, contemporary fiction--have to be basically delusional and a few fries short of a Happy Meal to even entertain the concept.
Guys get sleepy after sex, too, but that doesn't stop them from buying it. I mean...having it.
So, 75 percent of people ARE reading books regularly.
Considering so many people never even crack open a single book and two-thirds of those who do in this survey read the Bible and other assorted god droppings, I guess I should be relieved that the only books I see people reading on the train are either Harry Potter or those ghetto pornellas.
Does YouTube count as a book? 'Cause if so, I still only read about two books last year.
@HerbTarlick: Oh my god! You were me too?
@collegecallgirl: well put. Wanna get together and read later?
Fuck books. Fuck em right in the binding.
@hfree: I'm from one of the flyover states and I read quite a bit. The AP just interviewed morons, (who happen to live everywhere.)
Sadly, I fear that number's wildly inflated. No one wants to admit they don't read. Those same people claim to watch PBS while their Nielsen boxes register American Idol. No biggie. According to everything I read on the Internets print is dead anyway.
@Pangloss: I'm there. There's nothing I can stand more than a fat sober person, so France should be great.
I had a girlfriend once who hated to read. By some miracle, she got interested and couldn't stop reading. However, it didn't seem to help her intelligence any. She remarked about a particular book, "I couldn't put it down. It's a real page burner."
@Pangloss: Happy Birthday monsieur le docteur. Your job in the next year is to get every adult-onset diabetic in the heartland to read Voltaire. Go!
Obviously this survey was administered in a pre-"Manny Diaries" era.
@LisaB: Yes, but I'd be willing to bet that places like Guntersville, Alabama has more than its fair share of idiots. Or people with mullets for that matter (the two are often interchangeable).
I don't know, that Applebee's menu is pretty thick these days.
How do matchbooks figure in that survey?
My guess is those are the same '1 in 4' people who still approve of Pres Boy George who, if I recall correctly, has stated that he's pretty damn proud of the fact that he doesn't read either.
@guevara284: Scientists will soon discover that illiteracy is caused by a virus, too.
The terminal and incurable virus of living below the Mason-Dixon Line.
@hfree: I'm with you in killing the curve. I'm pretty sure I alone could keep my local Barnes and Noble afloat. I read like it's my job. The subway was made for reading and drunken naps...although I live in Philly and SEPTA is no MTA so I do the driving thing now.
Balk's Cock's autobiography will put an end to this disturbing trend toward illiteracy.
@so5minutesago: If James Frey has taught us anything, it's that everything you read in books is TOTALLY TRUE.
My summer reading goal is to read the complete works of Noire. I can heartily recommend "Thong on Fire" but i'm also expecting great things from "Bitch Reloaded" and "Thug-a-licious."
Everyone's waiting for somebody to pen the next great "Jonathan Livingston Seagull."
@guevara284: You do have a point!
@FracturedAcetabulum:
I'll even look the other way while you slip a roofie in my book.
@LolCait: And Cheesecake Factory's has ads.
Paris Hilton needs to open her Center for People Who Can't Read Good stat!
I only read books written by or scathingly reviewed by gossip bloggers. Last year: The Glass Castle and Bergdorf Blondes.
I'm going to read "The Secret" and I'm going to visualize all these people reading, and if it doesn't happen it's because I didn't practice the Secret well enough. But at least I will have read a book.
@guevara284: Done & done. We can report from the field for Gawker Book Club while drinking kirs.
@MattGaymon: Tough challenge, but I'm up to it! After all, anything is possible in this best of all possible worlds, n'est-ce pas?
Does the Foxy Brown thread count as a book?
I read comic books. Well, use to anyway. Does that count?
I want to read more (really, I do), but none of the books that are being published these days appeal to me. I don't want to read chick lit. I'll stick with my dog eared copy of Adrian Mole , thanks.
@Harry_Greek: Yes, but only if refer to them as "graphic novels."
Future study proposal -- chart the number of hours spent watching American Idol, BB8, The Hills, and any other "reality" excretia that fills the TeeVees these days. Overlay data on numbers of books read. I think you can see where this is going people...