Don your black mourning. Our country’s literacy is in the red. I saw this article today in the Dallas Morning News that covers a poll done which shows that 1 in 4 adults read no books last year. 27% of our population read no books last year. I’m still trying to let it sink, hopefully before the entire book industry does.
Some of the findings were standard: more women read than men, and of those women the majority were over 50 (although it didn’t say by how much of a majority); of the books men did read, there were more nonfiction than fiction; the majority of readers (again, no numbers given) had at least a college degree.
Here’s a surprising (tongue-in-cheek) quote: "’Fiction just doesn’t interest me,’ said Bob Ryan, 41, who works for a construction company in Guntersville, Ala. ‘If I’m going to get a story, I’ll get a movie.’"
But there were also new-to-me facts. For example, "those who said they never attend religious services read nearly twice as many as those who attend frequently." On the one hand, this makes sense with the time factor. On the other hand, shouldn’t these people at least be reading their religious book? And Democrats read slightly more than Republicans. And here’s one that blew me over (no offense to those I’m about to offend): those in the Midwest read more than any other region. Huh. But then again, what else is there to do on a cold night? (Okay, now I’m hated my the entire area. Love you guys. My hubby grew up there, and he’s a good man. The best.)
After all this black news, there are two findings keeping the industry out of the red: those who read, read avidly. Like 70 books a year avidly. And the number of sales are up 3% this year. Of course, never know what that’ll mean for next year.
So keep reading, folks! (And not just blogs.)
Some of the findings were standard: more women read than men, and of those women the majority were over 50 (although it didn’t say by how much of a majority); of the books men did read, there were more nonfiction than fiction; the majority of readers (again, no numbers given) had at least a college degree.
Here’s a surprising (tongue-in-cheek) quote: "’Fiction just doesn’t interest me,’ said Bob Ryan, 41, who works for a construction company in Guntersville, Ala. ‘If I’m going to get a story, I’ll get a movie.’"
But there were also new-to-me facts. For example, "those who said they never attend religious services read nearly twice as many as those who attend frequently." On the one hand, this makes sense with the time factor. On the other hand, shouldn’t these people at least be reading their religious book? And Democrats read slightly more than Republicans. And here’s one that blew me over (no offense to those I’m about to offend): those in the Midwest read more than any other region. Huh. But then again, what else is there to do on a cold night? (Okay, now I’m hated my the entire area. Love you guys. My hubby grew up there, and he’s a good man. The best.)
After all this black news, there are two findings keeping the industry out of the red: those who read, read avidly. Like 70 books a year avidly. And the number of sales are up 3% this year. Of course, never know what that’ll mean for next year.
So keep reading, folks! (And not just blogs.)
