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
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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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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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; -
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
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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
Well so far I've read about a dozen or so novels. I am voracious reader though I go in spurts. There are some months where I will only read one or two books and other months where I will read 20+. Most of my friends like to occassionally read, but my family is like me.
Some people sail through life on a bed of roses like a knife slicing through butter.
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Is 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 )
Horton Hears a Who, I believe.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
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 agree. My son (6) in 1st grade is reading at 3rd grade level and he's the youngest in the class. He and his friends are very much into collecting Pokemon cards at the moment and he has to read all the descriptions to them, because they either can't read it or can't be bothered to read it.
Sunrise Wallpaper Project | The StartPage Randomizer | The Windows Cheerleader
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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 tech books all the time but since I finished all the great science fiction authors I am left wanting for really good literature. Every once in a while I will pick up a Sci-Fi anthology but there selection is usually rather lame.
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
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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Horton Hears a Who, I believe.
Software Zen:
delete this;You get the '5' for the correct Horton reference.
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
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
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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
That sounds about right. I read lots of everything.
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook "There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance." Ali ibn Abi Talib "Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?"
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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.
Mike Gaskey wrote:
Wife reads more but she's a natural speed reader.
I was thinking after responding to this thread that how many books you read and even whether you enjoy reading is due, in large part, to how fast you read. I've been clocked at 620 wpm which means that, for me, an action novel is filled with as much excitement as a good FX-filled movie - and has the advantage of being available on my schedule. I've known and worked with folks who have a clocked speed of less than 100 wpm. Apparently they actually subvocalise while they read which slows them down to talking speed.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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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.
Let me help you understand why I don't read for fun. Look at all the other activities I can do. Exercise Make Beer Drink Beer Play Video Games Have Quality Time with the wife Kayak Clean my house Cook Eat Play with the dogs Program Surf internet and or masturbate watch a movie Target shoot with my shotgun ride my bike hike smoke something make beef jerky clean my car garden post in the lounge on codeproject There are so many things to do that are more fun than reading. That is why I don't read for fun.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
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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
dan neely wrote:
My average is probably closer to 4/week than 3, and I'm working
I think I'd be higher, but I've developed cataracts which aren't bad enough to force an operation yet, but are bad enough to make it a little harder to focus.
dan neely wrote:
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.
Thats where working has an advantage over retirement. I still buy books and just picked up Ringo's latest from Baen, but the days of buying the hardbounds are gone for me, I am afraid.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface