tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post3044713238470351589..comments2023-12-23T05:12:55.809-05:00Comments on The Written Nerd: Link-Mad Response: American Reading Habits Will Surprise YouBook Nerdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896226559142059293noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-31499875924977580892007-09-10T15:00:00.000-04:002007-09-10T15:00:00.000-04:00Hi, just wandered in, and was too interested not t...Hi, just wandered in, and was too interested not to post.<BR/><BR/>"We want to believe that we're the guardians of culture in a country of hicks and philistines, that what we do by reading and writing and producing and selling and talking about books is special and brave and maybe tragically romantic." <BR/><BR/>See, I do have the bullshit literary romantic notions in my head. Of course I do. But I don't want to be part of a tiny literary minority while everyone else watches American Idol, and has never read anything that wasn't assigned to them in school. It could make me feel special and elite, but more likely it leads to depression and alienation, and feelnig judgemental because the massses seem to be not too keen on stretching their brains.<BR/><BR/>Literature was once a more dominate and important form of communication that it is now. And the short story was more popular, as far as I am aware. I like to be skeptical as hell about rose colored glasses for yesteryear, but sometimes there is a grain of truth to it.<BR/><BR/>"So we shake our heads at a culture in decline, rather than looking for something to celebrate in a world full of things to celebrate"<BR/><BR/>That's good, though. Aaaacentuate the positive and all that. You're right. It always seems to be ever so trendy to bemoan THESE as the darkest times. I just don't think it's usually true.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, good post.Lucy Staghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10641717100004267043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-74360210174252872902007-09-04T17:50:00.000-04:002007-09-04T17:50:00.000-04:00Sorry, I should clarify:I realize you're comparing...Sorry, I should clarify:<BR/><BR/>I realize you're comparing across time, so yes it's possible that reading habits have changed within that 5-year period. But I'd say the differences in survey methods are the source of the difference. (Similarly-run Gallup polls have widely varying results from year to year, simply because of their survey methods.) The survey-methods explanation seems especially likely if you look at the time-trend data showing readership in steady decline over the last 20 years.<BR/><BR/>I'm not saying that the NEA figures merit doom and gloom, but I have doubts that the AP/Ipsos finding is comparable to the NEA study, or even to previous AP or Gallup findings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-49060620921023048072007-09-04T17:38:00.000-04:002007-09-04T17:38:00.000-04:00Unfortunately the AP/Ipsos survey is at odds with ...Unfortunately the AP/Ipsos survey is at odds with several much larger and more rigorously conducted studies by the Census, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, and others. I compared them in boring detail <A HREF="http://www.readforpleasure.com/2007/08/associated-press-poll-on-reading.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>. Basically, the larger surveys found that more like 43-57% of Americans read books, not 73% as the AP found. The NEA study was by far the most carefully conducted, and they found that 57% read any book while 47% read literature (any fiction, poetry, or play).<BR/><BR/>(I looked more at those larger studies in "<A HREF="http://www.readforpleasure.com/2007/01/how-much-do-we-read.html" REL="nofollow">How much do we read?</A>" and "<A HREF="http://www.readforpleasure.com/2007/07/who-reads-genre-fiction.html" REL="nofollow">Who reads genre fiction?</A>")<BR/><BR/><I>I thought the NEA survey was only measuring the reading of Literature</I><BR/><BR/>The NEA and the Census both asked about all books, though the rest of the NEA study was on fiction.<BR/><BR/><I>I keep wondering why we don't see survey results of British reading habits, or Turkish, or Armenian, or any other nation -- just North American. Are all those other countries really so much more literate than we are</I><BR/><BR/>Several large international studies do get cited regularly. In fact, several of the news reports on the AP/Ipsos survey quote international statistics.<BR/><BR/>I've culled statistics from two international surveys <A HREF="http://www.readforpleasure.com/2007/01/how-much-do-we-read.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>:<BR/>• A 2004 Gallup poll on reading in the US, Canada, and Great Britain<BR/>• A 2001 OECD survey comparing a number of reading metrics for over 30 countries.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-70490848901906707012007-08-31T18:16:00.000-04:002007-08-31T18:16:00.000-04:00I thought the NEA survey was only measuring the re...I thought the NEA survey was only measuring the reading of Literature and that the numbers referred to novels, poetry and plays...and that people who objected to the survey said that it wasn't counting the hugely growing genre of Literary Nonfiction.Andy Latieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01316430043288093560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-87341555613097453652007-08-31T14:22:00.000-04:002007-08-31T14:22:00.000-04:00Just to second Sandra, it seems that in this age o...Just to second Sandra, it seems that in this age of the internet, computers, email, etc. people are reading more than they have in a long time. Yes, the image is everywhere, but so is text. And books aren’t the only container for words, nor do they only contain words. What constitutes “reading” a book of engravings? Is it preferable, according to this type of statistic, to reading a literary journal?Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10677036603784028660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-16457042281757265912007-08-29T18:55:00.000-04:002007-08-29T18:55:00.000-04:00I am sooo glad you posted this; am currently in th...I am sooo glad you posted this; am currently in the process of running around with much glee and saying "written nerd says differently! see? [add linky]"David de Beerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03191810429175260146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-38910865133203507022007-08-28T18:03:00.000-04:002007-08-28T18:03:00.000-04:00Interesting, but I think the most plausible interp...Interesting, but I think the most plausible interpretation is that there's something seriously screwed up in the methodology of either or both of the surveys. I suspect the surveys defined "read" pretty differently to warrant such a disparity, maybe with one asking, "How many books did you read in the previous year, including those you skimmed?" while the other one was, "How many books did you finish?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-52322900769387650742007-08-28T12:44:00.000-04:002007-08-28T12:44:00.000-04:00I keep wondering why we don't see survey results o...I keep wondering why we don't see survey results of British reading habits, or Turkish, or Armenian, or any other nation -- just North American. Are all those other countries really so much more literate than we are, or do they just have better things to do with their time than worry over how many books their neighbours might/might not have read last year? <BR/><BR/>I also find these hell-in-a-handbasket statistics very misleading, because they dont' tell us anything about other reading habits -- like, for instance, do those people who don't pick up a book happen to pick up The Economist on a regular basis, or read two or three newspapers a day instead. And of the majestic majority who do so selflessly read, how many of them are reading bodice rippers by Diane Gabaldon in preference to, say, Moby Dick, or the latest Philip Roth? Does quality count?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11367307277288473603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-5709590173126496252007-08-28T11:10:00.000-04:002007-08-28T11:10:00.000-04:00Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. ...Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. If only the media were interested in putting a positive spin on the state of our reading nation! I feel the same way every time I hear about the decline in children's reading habits as well as the End of the Independent Bookseller.<BR/>Many kudos to you for turning this survey on its head to show people that the glass is really, may I say, three-quarters full.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18086590.post-14087923656079364062007-08-27T15:11:00.000-04:002007-08-27T15:11:00.000-04:00Amen to everything you've said here,BN-I read the ...Amen to everything you've said here,BN-I read the Freeman piece over the weekend(caught a link to it via Return of the Reluctant via Meg Gardiner)and thought the whole premise he presented was absurd.<BR/><BR/> Nothing against the good people of Nevada,but looking for a book store in Las Vegas is like going to Utah to check out the local bar scene;if you really,really want to find it,you can but it's not going to be easy since that's not the reason tourists flock there on a regular basis. Also,I know of a Jane Austen online group that held their first real world meeting in Vegas and had a blast.<BR/><BR/> All this hand wringing about the state of reading is very self serving to those snobs your fellow bookseller was talking about. True book lovers know it's about quality,not quantity that counts in the end.lady thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16287907577241697874noreply@blogger.com