A 2002 Census Bureau study shows that only 56.6 of all American adults surveyed read a book of any kind in the previous year, and only 46.7 read literature, defined for the purpose of this study as a novel, short story, or play read without the impetus of a school or work assignment.

Yikes! How can you do that? I can't even get to sleep without reading.

I read that this morning, and it surprises me not at all. My in-laws are people who went to college, and they read very little 'literature' - my FIL and MIL maybe a book or two a year (FIL more, now that he's retired). SIL reads mostly how-to books and stuff like that.

Yikes! How can you do that? I can't even get to sleep without reading.

I know! I mean, I know that I read way more than most people, but I just can't wrap my brain around the idea of going a whole year without reading for pleasure AT ALL.

I've gone through phases where I'll read nothing but magazines (usually happens after I've finished a really dense book and need a mental break), but I don't think I've ever been reading nothing.

[eta: Well, if we're talking about reading for pleasure, I had very little time for that in college. Between the film, theatre, English, philosophy, and history departments, I was still enjoying a lot of what I read, but if it wasn't on a syllabus, I didn't have time for it.]

Well, some people just aren't readers -- that's not how they work. You know the thing about "multiple intelligences"? Some people just don't tend to absorb data from words on a page as easily as they do listening to words, or seeing pictures, or whatever. They're not clods, just not book-oriented.

And although I work with that idea alla time, I can still remember my own sense of tragedy (and having to keep it private) the first time I understood that there really are people like that, who get nothing from something I find so wonderfully useful.

That doesn't account for the entire percentage of non-readers, of course. I think another factor is that you can watch a movie in 2 hours, but I can't read a book that fast most of the time. I know plenty of people who find it difficult to stop a story and then start it up again later (book or movie); and considering the workday and all of life's daily distractions, the shorter item could easily win out over the longer one.

I always think it's very sad when someone comes to my house, beholds the mighty Wall of Books, realizes there's more bookshelves everywhere, and says, as if it's a bad thing, "Do you really read all these books?"

Well, some people just aren't readers -- that's not how they work. You know the thing about "multiple intelligences"? Some people just don't tend to absorb data from words on a page as easily as they do listening to words, or seeing pictures, or whatever. They're not clods, just not book-oriented.

True, but IMO the stunning thing about that article is the precipitous decline over the last decade or two--it's not that you'd ever expect everyone, or even every reasonably intelligent person, to be a book lover, but the decline part is especially depressing.

There's an Eco humorous essay about people asking him that very question.

I always think it's very sad when someone comes to my house, beholds the mighty Wall of Books, realizes there's more bookshelves everywhere, and says, as if it's a bad thing, "Do you really read all these books?"

My mom keeps telling me to leave some of my books at home, as I keep on accumulating more and they become somewhat of a hassle to pack up and move, but I've refused. Of course I don't have time to read them all, but there's something intangibly wonderful about having them with me, to see them and touch them. I told her they keep me sane, but she can't seem to wrap her head around that concept.

True, but IMO the stunning thing about that article is the precipitous decline over the last decade or two--it's not that you'd ever expect everyone, or even every reasonably intelligent person, to be a book lover, but the decline part is especially depressing.

I'm not really stunned by it. More options on TV, ookier hours and commutes, more people willing to answer honestly...

Signed, has not read a work of fiction without pictures for pleasure outside of one or two genre reads that failed to satisfy for since, oh, six months ago.