How many books people read
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
Jim Crafton wrote:
I find I read 20+ books a year.
When I was young/single/no kids I was reading a lot. These days I am lucky if I have time to browse a history book in a bookstore.
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
I probably haven't read a book for 5 years. With three young children and long hours at work it's often difficult to find time to eat and sleep, let alone read. Of course, if Dr. Seuss and the like count, I read about 500 books a year.
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I can't comprehend how people don't read either. I'm constantly reading. Whether its horror, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, etc., I just can't survive without books. But I know a lot of people who don't read books for fun at all and they blame mandatory reading projects in school for it. Personally, I found some great books through our summer reading lists and required book reports.
Have faith in yourself; amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.
Yeah, the problem is not required reading at school, that just highlighted the problem. I read many good books at school, and when I hated a book, I was able to intelligently argue about why I felt that way. I remember having to do sessions where we all read out loud, it was painful. I don't like to judge people, I have good friends who are terrible readers, but having to listen to someone who plainly can barely read, is a nightmare.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
I read mostly science fiction, a little fantasy, and the occasional adventure novel (yes, I prefer escapist drivel). Non-fiction I read is related to running or bicycling. I probably read 50-75 books a year. I read even more the years I get to take my favorite vacation: The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure[^]. Get up in the morning, ride 45-65 miles, clean up, sit and read until nightfall, sleep, repeat for a week. I'll read ten books during that week. I haven't read a programming book from cover-to-cover in over ten years. There are very, very few of them worth the $40 to over $100 they cost.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I probably haven't read a book for 5 years. With three young children and long hours at work it's often difficult to find time to eat and sleep, let alone read. Of course, if Dr. Seuss and the like count, I read about 500 books a year.
ROTFL - I know what you mean. My daughter wanted 'one fish two fish red fish blue fish' so often, I can quote most of it. I find I can't get to sleep easily unless I read for a half hour, that's where most of my reading occurs. Watching TV or a computer is the worst thing you can do just before bed.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
I read ~58 books in 2005. Even have the list; just haven't got around to putting it up on my site. 2006 and 2007 were far less prolific. I read ~15 each, but still more than one a month.
Cheers, Vikram.
"If a trend is truly global, then that trend ought to be visible across ANY subset of that data" - fat_boy
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
Jim Crafton wrote:
Forum:The Lounge Subject:How many books people read Sender:Jim Crafton Date:Thursday, January 17, 2008 11:44:00 AM I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device).
Those were my thoughts as well. I suspect you can get whatever statistics you want on this depending on the demographics of your audience. Remember, there are three kinds of falsehoods: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
I can't imagine not reading. I read often. In fact, I just finished this last night. My 10-year old and I are in the middle of this. ;)
"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." - Ellen Goodman
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
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I read ~58 books in 2005. Even have the list; just haven't got around to putting it up on my site. 2006 and 2007 were far less prolific. I read ~15 each, but still more than one a month.
Cheers, Vikram.
"If a trend is truly global, then that trend ought to be visible across ANY subset of that data" - fat_boy
Yeah, some thick historical books may take me a week to read, but a typical brain science book takes me 2-3 days and a music related book, usually just a day. So, that means I probably read about the same number. I don't keep a list tho, I just buy books from Amazon ,read them once, and throw them on the pile. So I guess that pile is my reading history.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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I probably haven't read a book for 5 years. With three young children and long hours at work it's often difficult to find time to eat and sleep, let alone read. Of course, if Dr. Seuss and the like count, I read about 500 books a year.
Kacee Giger wrote:
Dr. Seuss and the like count, I read about 500 books a year
Good for you! That's one place where my wife and I decided, in advance, to be as indulgent as possible. If my daughter asked to buy a toy or a piece of candy, the answer was often no. If she asked to buy a book or go to the library, the answer was almost always yes. As a result she's become a voracious reader, an excellent writer, and a pretty good student overall.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
From September of last year till just this past week, I've gone through at least 20 books, probably more. And I've been muddling through the first study book for my MCPD for about three months now (it's so boring!)
Please don't bother me... I'm hacking right now. Don't look at me like that - doesn't anybody remember what "hacking" really means? :sigh:
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I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device). Which I thought was a typical ridiculous comment from Jobs until I googled for more information. And lo and behold, what I found seems to back him up! Some of the stats claim that, in the U.S. at least, 1 in 4 haven't read a book at ALL in the last year. There was a similar statistic quoted for the UK. Is this in fact true? I find I read 20+ books a year. Granted it's a lot of Sci-Fi, but still, to not read, at all? I can't even comprehend that.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
When I was commuting 55 miles each way I listened to a lot of books on tape, as well as reading at home. I'm retired now, so I'll scew the curve, but I read about three books @ week - Mostly SF or Detective fiction. The only time in my life when my reading dropped below a book @ week was when I was married and had small kids to watch over. One really cool place to check out is Baen Free Library^ which provides for download a large number of SF e-books that first saw print only a few years ago.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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ROTFL - I know what you mean. My daughter wanted 'one fish two fish red fish blue fish' so often, I can quote most of it. I find I can't get to sleep easily unless I read for a half hour, that's where most of my reading occurs. Watching TV or a computer is the worst thing you can do just before bed.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
Christian Graus wrote:
one fish two fish red fish blue fish
That's a great design patterns book, and I've come to start using Dr. Seuss Patterns in all my code. After all, an object is an object no matter how small. :-\
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
Yeah, some thick historical books may take me a week to read, but a typical brain science book takes me 2-3 days and a music related book, usually just a day. So, that means I probably read about the same number. I don't keep a list tho, I just buy books from Amazon ,read them once, and throw them on the pile. So I guess that pile is my reading history.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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Jim Crafton wrote:
Forum:The Lounge Subject:How many books people read Sender:Jim Crafton Date:Thursday, January 17, 2008 11:44:00 AM I was reading a bit about why Stevo thinks the Kindle won't go anywhere: because no one reads (as opposed to the real reason - it sucks and it's a lame device).
Those were my thoughts as well. I suspect you can get whatever statistics you want on this depending on the demographics of your audience. Remember, there are three kinds of falsehoods: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
there are three kinds of falsehoods: lies, damned lies, and statistics
Actually, there are four: lies, damned lies, statistics, and tax returns.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
When I was commuting 55 miles each way I listened to a lot of books on tape, as well as reading at home. I'm retired now, so I'll scew the curve, but I read about three books @ week - Mostly SF or Detective fiction. The only time in my life when my reading dropped below a book @ week was when I was married and had small kids to watch over. One really cool place to check out is Baen Free Library^ which provides for download a large number of SF e-books that first saw print only a few years ago.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
Oakman wrote:
I read about three books @ week - Mostly SF or Detective fiction.
Not retired (just yet, but within days) and have read 1 to 2 fiction novels a week for longer than I can remember. Wife reads more but she's a natural speed reader. Mostly police procedurals, legal novels, detective novels. During the cold war, read a lot of spy stuff.
Mike The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.
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I usually have three books in process at a time. One for the livingroom, one e-book in my office and one in the bedroom for last thing at night.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
Yeah, I tend to have several going at once, but only in bed, I have far too much work to do, I can't remember the last time I spent any decent time in my living room, I just walk past on the way to my office....
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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Christian Graus wrote:
one fish two fish red fish blue fish
That's a great design patterns book, and I've come to start using Dr. Seuss Patterns in all my code. After all, an object is an object no matter how small. :-\
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTLIs that Horton hatches the egg ?
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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Kacee Giger wrote:
Dr. Seuss and the like count, I read about 500 books a year
Good for you! That's one place where my wife and I decided, in advance, to be as indulgent as possible. If my daughter asked to buy a toy or a piece of candy, the answer was often no. If she asked to buy a book or go to the library, the answer was almost always yes. As a result she's become a voracious reader, an excellent writer, and a pretty good student overall.
Software Zen:
delete this;Yeah, we do that too. The other trick is, we allow only a certain amount of reading time at night, it's emphasised as something that's a treat, not something we want them to do. My daughter has always been a reader. My son took some time, but we paid for some remedial help as he was stuck, and he's come so far in 3 months, it's amazing. Now he too always has a book in his hand, the back of our car is full of their books.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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When I was commuting 55 miles each way I listened to a lot of books on tape, as well as reading at home. I'm retired now, so I'll scew the curve, but I read about three books @ week - Mostly SF or Detective fiction. The only time in my life when my reading dropped below a book @ week was when I was married and had small kids to watch over. One really cool place to check out is Baen Free Library^ which provides for download a large number of SF e-books that first saw print only a few years ago.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
My average is probably closer to 4/week than 3, and I'm working. While out of work after college I was probably closer to 10/week, maybe even more. Baen's probably responsible for at least half of my new acquisitions. Not the free library though, I'm one of the suckersfans who buy the $15 ebooks of major titles a few months before release instead of waiting for the cheaper ebook or treeware versions.
But I like exploding spaceships.:cool:Otherwise [Microsoft is] toast in the long term no matter how much money they've got. They would be already if the Linux community didn't have it's head so firmly up it's own command line buffer that it looks like taking 15 years to find the desktop. -- Matthew Faithfull