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1 in 4 Americans don't read-CNN article

SFG75

SFG75

Well-Known Member
According to a recent CNN report, Americans don't read.:eek:

One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and seniors were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year -- half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read any, the usual number read was seven.

"I just get sleepy when I read," said Richard Bustos of Dallas, a habit with which millions of Americans can doubtless identify. Bustos, a 34-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company, said he had not read any books in the last year and would rather spend time in his backyard pool.
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Sounds to me like Richard is an idiot.:rolleyes:

So why don't Americans read? And why is it that people like Sevenwritez only read Stephen King novels?:confused: :confused:
 
Americans are probably just lazy when it comes to reading. Or I think that in most cases they just haven't found the right book to spark their interest in enjoying the pastime.

The bit about the lady having to put off reading the last Harry Potter book made me chuckle.

And I defy that generalization that women don't enjoy non-fiction. :p
 
I think it's bullshit. I hate it when people write out reports giving statistics, then no information about the experiments that the statistics were gathered from. Who was polled? How many? "Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday" doesn't really cut it. And, if there were genres offered, as the relgious and pop fiction comment would lead one to believe, then what were all the genres? I'll admit that Americans aren't that big on reading rather often, but 25% is probably a ridiculous idea nonetheless.
 
I can think of three people off the top of my head that claim to not read. All three are coworkers and all three are engineers.
 
Personally, with a 3 1/2 year old, a husband, a full-time job and a life, I find it very hard to find time to read. Don't get me wrong, I still read, I just don't read as much. I can only do 1 book a month (except for Harry Potter, I did that in 1 1/2 days), and that is on my lunch breaks and before bed.

I only have one kid and I'm married, imagine all the people who have 2, 3 or 4 kids and the ones who are single-parent homes. I can see this article as accurate, but not because of laziness as a whole.

My mom was a single parent and there was 3 of us. She made up reading hour, where all four of us would do nothing but read for an hour, with no interruption. It worked and my brothers and I are avid readers.
 
While I'm quite prepared to concede that a lot of people - not just Americans - do not read, I always distrust these surveys. The sample size for this one was 1003 - in a population of over 200 million, however good your demographics, that is statistically insignificant.

I remember a survey carried out here a couple of years ago - the results said that 75% of the participants were in favour of something. But when you looked at the numbers...they had sent out a few thousand questionnaires; of all those only about 25% were returned. So the 75% 'in favour' actually amounted to something less than 0.15% of the area's adult population. With those kind of numbers I could find a '75%' who believed Elvis was alive and well, and living in their garden shed!
 
While I know too many nonreaders for me to discount this latest survey, my first thought was, 'they didn't ask me or my husband.' I started thinking of all the people I know personally who ARE readers, and looked at my own family and our book saturated existence, and felt a little smug. We all can cite examples of the wacky excuses nonreaders give for book avoidance, so this latest article and survey is really not telling us anything new. I'm glad the article has given us cause to address the issue anyway, as it can revive our interest in recruiting new readers to the fold.
 
Also, how much does one have to read to qualify as a "reader"? Considering that "religious works" are at the top, it makes me think that anyone who only reads a bit of the Bible in church would qualify in the 75%...
 
beer good said:
Also, how much does one have to read to qualify as a "reader"? Considering that "religious works" are at the top, it makes me think that anyone who only reads a bit of the Bible in church would qualify in the 75%...
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Well, if my opinion were the only one that counted(remember they didn't ask me) I would say that real readers are the ones who read both The Bible and non religious material..I'm thinking of the folks I know who are so proud of themselves because they 'only read stuff from a Christian publishing house)..Maybe I've veered too far from that path to comment, but whenever I meet that attitude, my eyes glaze over and I want to tell them to wake up! Read the Bible AND what your neighbors are reading, if we really want to do what the Bible tells us and reach out to the world.

Anyway, I'm with you in questioning the way this article lumps 'religious' material. I'll slink back into my corner now..carry on:p
 
stephiebaby said:
Personally, with a 3 1/2 year old, a husband, a full-time job and a life, I find it very hard to find time to read. Don't get me wrong, I still read, I just don't read as much. I can only do 1 book a month (except for Harry Potter, I did that in 1 1/2 days), and that is on my lunch breaks and before bed.

I only have one kid and I'm married, imagine all the people who have 2, 3 or 4 kids and the ones who are single-parent homes. I can see this article as accurate, but not because of laziness as a whole.

My mom was a single parent and there was 3 of us. She made up reading hour, where all four of us would do nothing but read for an hour, with no interruption. It worked and my brothers and I are avid readers.
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There is a difference to me between being busy and in being like Richard-you have the time, but you'd rather go hit the pool.:rolleyes: Believe you me, I entirely understand about being wiped out after work and taking care of the tator-tots.:)

Philw-Heard another study-100% of people polled at random, indicated that they had recently been polled about something.:D
 
Here in the Middle East or the Arab society, 1 in 4 barely reads!
A Lebanese newspaper report that Arabs read an average of seven minutes in a year. This shows how much our society is desperate and in need to reading. Can you believe it? 7 minutes?? I'm not sure how much true is this info, but here at work, none of my co-workers reading something beyond their technical work. Not Arabic nor English books!
 
SFG75 said:
There is a difference to me between being busy and in being like Richard-you have the time, but you'd rather go hit the pool.:rolleyes: Believe you me, I entirely understand about being wiped out after work and taking care of the tator-tots.:)

.:D
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Right on! I think some of best things we busy parents can do for our kids is A. Read to the kids, and B. Allow them to see us reading for our own pleasure and edification. They NEED to see us reaching for the printed word for all the reasons we all do..If they don't, they're much more likely to 'get' the message that reading is optional at best.
 
Samerron said:
Here in the Middle East or the Arab society, 1 in 4 barely reads!
A Lebanese newspaper report that Arabs read an average of seven minutes in a year. This shows how much our society is desperate and in need to reading. Can you believe it? 7 minutes?? I'm not sure how much true is this info, but here at work, none of my co-workers reading something beyond their technical work. Not Arabic nor English books!
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7 minutes a year? :eek: Doesn't this make you want to hand them each a book?
 
abecedarian said:
Well, if my opinion were the only one that counted(remember they didn't ask me) I would say that real readers are the ones who read both The Bible and non religious material..I'm thinking of the folks I know who are so proud of themselves because they 'only read stuff from a Christian publishing house)..Maybe I've veered too far from that path to comment, but whenever I meet that attitude, my eyes glaze over and I want to tell them to wake up! Read the Bible AND what your neighbors are reading, if we really want to do what the Bible tells us and reach out to the world.
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Heh. I'm reminded of that scene from The Office (US):
JIM: Okay, so, three books on a desert island...Angela?
ANGELA: The Bible.
(awkward pause)
STANLEY: That's one book, you got two others.
ANGELA: A Purpose Driven Life.
JIM: Nice. (waits) Third book.
ANGELA: No!
JIM: ...Okay. Phyllis?
PHYLLIS: Um, The da Vinci Code...
ANGELA: The da Vinci Code? I would take The da Vinci Code... so I could burn The da Vinci Code.
DWIGHT: Okay great, that is going to keep you warm. For like 7 seconds.
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Beergood:
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abecedarian said:
7 minutes a year? :eek: Doesn't this make you want to hand them each a book?
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Well, I'm sure they won't read it. I'm planning to give a book as a gift for someone special, and I'm thinking one of the self-improvement books. I guess it will be The Present (I also wrote a short review about it)

I guess if people plan to read here they even read a religious book, a cook book or some fancy magazine!
 
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