Books...Who Reads Books Anymore?
This site has a jillion statistics about the publishing business, some of which I found depressing.
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If you get gratification from reading it's instant, but if the gratification doesn't come till you finish the book, some electronic options might appear more attractive. Yeah, I know....too damn busy. Life can be pretty hectic and it's hard to read when you fall asleep on the first paragraph. But there are a lot of books being published. Especially with the rise of small or self publishers, enabled by electronics. Some of the statistics are dated but interesting anyway.....at least to me.:blush: |
Speaking of books;
Everyone knows you're not allowed to have sex standing up because it leads to dancing, right? Here is a free online book, "From Ball Room to Hell", by T. A. Faulkner, "Formerly Proprietor of the Los Angeles Dancing Academy and ex-President of Dancing Masters' Association of the Pacific Coast", Copyright 1892, 40 pages. Quote:
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Yeah it's pretty sad. Nobody at work talks about books, just about movies and TV. (I'm guilty of that too, even tho I do read a lot.)
My partner and I have quite a large library, split into rough thirds by fiction, general non-fiction, and my geek books (computer, math, graphics, etc.) We've actually had a hard time finding decent bookshelves. Nobody seems to sell them anymore. |
I love books and still read them. I also prefer reading the newspaper in paper form rather than on a computer screen. I am currently reading "Rats" by Michael Sullivan who researched the subject of rats particularly in New York City, and wrote abouat them. Interesting stuff.
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Explain to me why this is a bad thing. If you look at the quality of most of those books being published, I don't know that we would be better off for having read them.
If I decide to watch something on the History Channel or PBS instead of reading a trash fiction novel, isn't that a better choice? Why is the printed word more sacred than then spoken or visual word? |
With your examples, sure. In general, though, books require more interaction than tv, more mental exercise. Of course, many of the folks watching History Channel are the same ones reading real books. I can't have cable in my house, since I'm raising children, so its books for me.
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I work in the children's dept. of our public library, and it's SUMMER VACATION. Which means Summer Reading Lists, and there's a ZILLION kids visiting us every single day. Of course, this is good news.....except for those who work in the library and have to lookup, find, and SHELVE all those bloody books!!! Rant over! Thank you....just another month to go. :blush: |
I would be the one person who still is reading. Given the amount of other stuff I do, my average number of books completed per month is down, but I'm still reading.
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Great catch Patrick! I think those survey numbers may be a little inflated. Still...
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I love to read.
I've had down times where I didn't have the time to read the back of a box of brownies.... hence all of the screaming & running....lol My husband has a helluva book coming out early this fall, and I'm excited beyond excited!! It's a gathering of some of the greatest forensic minds out there, and it's been a long time coming. |
I love to read and typically have 2 or 3 books going at a time. My wife also reads quite often and both my kids (4 and 6) are really into reading, we read every night. Unfortunately most parents don't read to their kids so it becomes something they have to do for school and of course school equals work which is no fun. It is so much easier to sit and stare at a screen or play video games then actually read.
Smoothmoniker - you make it sound like all books are crap. Have you read the top 100 books of all time yet (you can google it)? It's a very interesting list. It should take a while to read all of those even if you read four or more per year. |
My mom said that when I was a kid, if there were nothing else around to read, I would read every word on the cereal box. So many of my educated colleagues don't read; have never read classics; don't bother with any of it. I think it's sad what passes for education.
My summer reads so far this year: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Lucky by Alice Sebold (I love her writing style) The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen And, re-reading Jane Eyre, again! |
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I have a wall full of books, but the web has left my attention span at too low a setting to read/use them.
Online, I now read much more than I have ever done in my lifetime, and that includes when I was 8 and would stay awake at night and read with a flashlight under the covers. I won't read opinion offline at all; there is so much better available on. Whenever I read hard copy opinion, I keep reaching for the reply button that doesn't exist and it pisses me off. |
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