2/3 of Americans Have Not Read a Novel in Past 12 Months

[Troy]

This is sourced from the National Endowment for the Arts 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts.

 

Viewed through a Lense of negativity one can say that 62.4% of Americans -- two out of three have not read a book (print or ebook). in the past year.  Reading of novels or short stories, and of books in general, has declined sharply over the last five- and 10-year periods (This is not depicted in the chat below but if you look at the study you will also discover this as well).

 

However, on a positive note one can say that most Americans (52%) have read at least one book (print, ebook, or audiobook) including plays, poetry and fiction.  That is 129 million readers!  If we included readers of nonfiction (many men) and school aged children (reading is required), the numbers would be much higher at least 200 million (in my estimation)

 

The NEA does not report on this, but I know that African American women over index in read rates.  If I have not shared this data I will.

 

Given all the pressured on our attention, I'm rather encouraged by the reported reading rates. 

 

My only concern for the youngins coming up (Gen Z and Alphas) who only know a world dominated by social media.  Many of my Boomer peers and older Gen Xers never got involved with social or have tired of it. If the generations after mine get sucked deeper into AI driven social reading rates will drop dramatically as the boomers and gen xers die off.

 

 

 

[Mel Hopkins]

15 minutes ago, Troy said:

he NEA does not report on this, but I know that African American women over index in read rates.  If I have not shared this data I will.

 

Please share the data!   

 

Last year, I read two novels (both published by AALBC) and one children's book (for review and interview). I started three novels last year, two of which are classics, and I plan to finish them this year. I can't begin to count how many government publications I've read for my consultancy work. The Washington Post reports I've read 70 Articles, and if I checked, it would probably be even more for the New York Times. 

 

Still, this statistic makes me a bit sad. While watching a rom-com film on the Lifetime channel,  I heard this quote from the fictitious writer on why she wrote about what she hadn't herself experienced.

 

To paraphrase, the romance writer replied, "I write these novels to give women what they can't get in their real life."

 

I wonder if this is the reason why black women read. 

[Troy]

1 hour ago, Mel Hopkins said:

I wonder if this is the reason why black women read. 

 

Of course -- it should be the reason we all read. I understand what the romance writer was saying, but there is nothing necessarily wrong with this.  I enjoy sci-fic I can't get the future in my real life so i read about it.  It is escapism.  Sometimes I real about things I would never want to experience I guess that is voyeurism...

 

As far was Black women reading more this is definitely for genre fiction.  I can not put my figure on a source... sorry I'll keep looking

 

 

[Mel Hopkins]

1 hour ago, Troy said:

Of course -- it should be the reason we all read.

This is a great answer, especially for writers! We should write about what people can't get in their lives. Even voyeurism!

[Pioneer1]

How can Americans focus on reading when so many of them can barely focus PERIOD after smoking all of that fake ass dispensary Marijuana?

Nearly a quarter of the adult Americans that I know are full blown WEED addicts.
They don't give a damn about books, exercise, walking through the park, going to a museum, or any thing else civil and cultivating.
Their entire focus is on getting enough money to smoke that genetically modified shit they're selling at the dispensary, and many of them will go STONE crazy if they can't get it.

[Troy]

Yeah pot heads tell me the weed from the dispensary is much stronger.  The guy who told me that also buys books from me.

 

I have no way of know what the impact of legal weed has on reading, but all the people I know who buy weed from dispensaries or have a medical marijuana card was smoking before it was legal. 

 

I still think the Facebook, tiktok, and youtube have had a much greater impact in reading, but people who always have their phone in the hand constantly scrolling were probably not readers anyway. 

 

The truth is there are probably a wide variety of reasons reading is down. Weed, social media, lower quality education, fewer stores, fewer platforms talking about books so it is harder to find something good to read, the increase in the price of books, along with everything else etc, etc

[Pioneer1]

Troy

There are MULTIPLE factors, weed is just one of the top contenders....lol.

Another factor that I've been hearing a lot lately from school teachers in Michigan (not sure if it's all over the nation) is how children are being taught now a days.

They're saying that for the past 10 or 15 years children aren't being taught phonics and the actual sound of each letter, but are rather taught the entire word itself.....only.

For example instead of being shown the letters B-O-O-K and asking the children to say the name of the letters and the sounds they make like when we were kids, they are just show the word  BOOK and told to recite.

Ofcourse this is coming from public school teachers.
Private and parochial schools have different methods.

[Chevdove]

My problem is I buy books but will take a long time before I can sit down and read them.

 

[Pioneer1]

47 minutes ago, Chevdove said:

My problem is I buy books but will take a long time before I can sit down and read them.

 

 

Well...... -Do you smoke a lot of that fake weed?????

Lol...if you do, that might be the problem.

[Chevdove]

5 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Well...... -Do you smoke a lot of that fake weed?????

Lol...if you do, that might be the problem.

 

Lol.

No. smoking clouds the brain, imo.

I hate the rabbit hole I go into when it comes to the internet and I believe that this is my problem. 

 

[Pioneer1]

55 minutes ago, Chevdove said:

 

Lol.

No. smoking clouds the brain, imo.

I hate the rabbit hole I go into when it comes to the internet and I believe that this is my problem. 

 

I've been meaning to ask you for quite some time, what do you think of the Hebrew Israelites who stand around on the corners in purple and yellow preaching the Bible and shouting at folks who walk by????

[Chevdove]

6 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

I've been meaning to ask you for quite some time, what do you think of the Hebrew Israelites who stand around on the corners in purple and yellow preaching the Bible and shouting at folks who walk by????

 

@Pioneer1 I guess it depends on who they are shouting at and what are they saying.

I did not think that type of street preaching still goes on.

I remember a few decades back when the Nation of Islam men would be in Black communities on the streets but they weren't shouting at anybody or inciting.

They would pass out flyers and very pleasant to me anyway.

 

I think that there are a lot of groups still today but I have not seen any and don't know where they are concentrated here in America. 

I believe though, that those groups need to become familiar with the kind of Hebrew Israelites that live in Africa and are leaders of their own countries and government and are dealing with other countries and cultures on a political basis. Most of them, I think, don't identify as being Hebrew Israelite but go by other name titles because of the historical places they have lived and had to be part of other civilizations. They have fostered diplomatic relations with other African peoples and also other countries in other parts of the world in order to maintain their unique identity as being Hebrew Israelites. 

 

They have centralized their government and developed a military system, schools, trade relations, airports, hospitals, etc. and interact with other cultures that help them and respect them for who they are. So when I think about the groups over here shouting in the streets, well, it may have been effective in the 1960s but maybe today, they may need to try other methods to develop their identity as being Hebrew Israelites. 

 

What do you think?

 

 

[ProfD]

I was a voracious reader several decades ago until I became a musician. 

 

While I haven't read a novel in a very long time, I still read a lot. Mainly for knowledge and information. 

 

As technology has expanded into various forms of entertainment, I can imagine that fewer folks read books now.

 

There's no shortage of cable TV, internet, video games, social activities, sporting events, etc., keeping folks occupied.

 

If there's an upside, books are plentiful and super cheap nowadays for those so inclined to read.

[Pioneer1]

Chevdove

 

I guess it depends on who they are shouting at and what are they saying.

I did not think that type of street preaching still goes on.

You must not live in a major city....lol.

 

 

 

I remember a few decades back when the Nation of Islam men would be in Black communities on the streets but they weren't shouting at anybody or inciting.

They would pass out flyers and very pleasant to me anyway.

 

I remember they used to go door to door also.
Not as much as the Jehovah's Witnesses, but still more than today.

 

 

 

They have centralized their government and developed a military system, schools, trade relations, airports, hospitals, etc. and interact with other cultures that help them and respect them for who they are. So when I think about the groups over here shouting in the streets, well, it may have been effective in the 1960s but maybe today, they may need to try other methods to develop their identity as being Hebrew Israelites. 

 

What do you think?

 

What do "I" think?

I don't think they should even CALL themselves Hebrews or Israelites....let alone develop that identity....because most of them are neither.

 

I'm still debating who the true Israelites are.
Part of me believes they were Caucasians who invaded ancient Middle Eastern civilizations....and part of me believes they were the brown skinned peoples with keen features who populate much of East Africa like Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

The Hebrews almost certainly were and are Black Africans.
The Igbo peoples of West Africa specifically.

However most AfroAmericans are NOT descended from Igbo and shouldn't run around claiming it.

 

Most of them don't call themselves that because of any extensive research they've done on their background.
They call themselves than because they read and believe in the Bible and want to see themselves as "God's Chose People"....so they adopt that identity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ProfD

 

Man I LOVE reading.

My Mother taught me how to read when I was 3 years old and I've been deeply in love with it since.
 

[ProfD]

7 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

 Man I LOVE reading.

Same here. The focus of my reading and how I read has changed over time.

[Pioneer1]

17 hours ago, ProfD said:

Same here. The focus of my reading and how I read has changed over time.

Ofcourse, mine too.

As you could probably tell....I used to be heavy into religion and scriptures.
Not just reading it but believing in it and I was like that for many many years.

I can remember sitting on the stool and reading Bible verses and religious books out loud to my older relatives at 6 or 7, showing off my reading skills and how devout I was...lol.
As I got older and pulled away from religion I started focusing more on history and political books.
Now much of my reading is done online, but I still love the feel of a book in my hand.

[umbrarchist]

So much fiction is formulaic, read that story different characters different places, same story. Most fiction I read is science fiction but a lot of people claiming to write it do not know science and technology. They just put characters in a sci-fi setting.

 

So a while ago I started working on a computer program that counts the use of Science words in a story.

 

A text file is scanned and words like "gravity, orbit, laser, plastic, hysteresis, Mars" are counted individually and in total. The program computes an SF density for the work. I later added a fantasy database with words like "wizard, wand, witch, sword, sorcerer".

 

A SF density of 1.00 would mean 1 science word per 1000 characters of text. Of course this means that I have to get a computer readable version of the work.

 

A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clarke has an SF density of 1.4

Ender's Game is like 0.46.

 

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
    SF density of 0.731; Fantasy density of 0.029

 

OSC.EndersGame.txt
    SF density 0.455; Fantasy density of 0.100

 

FH.Dune.txt
    SF density 0.415; Fantasy density of 0.090

 

Harry Potter all Seven Books   

JKR-HPAll_Books.txt

         SF density of 0.193; Fantasy density of 0.746

 

NKJ.5thSeason.txt
    SF density of 0.189; Fantasy density of 0.030

 

The Harry Potter books have a much higher Fantasy Density at 0.746 than SF Density at 0.193.

 

Curiously Jemison's work is odd with a low SF Density and a lower Fantasy Density. She does not use the usual fantasy words. I might have to add words just for her works but I died in the middle of the second book.

.

Edited September 5, 2024 by umbrarchist
added statistics

[Troy]

@umbrarchist why don’t you count all words graded in three characters and and rank those, rather than trying to anticipate what words would be used. You’d probably discover some Science Fiction words you hadn’t considered

[Delano]

If you like science fiction check out Dahlgren by Daniel Delaney and Foundation Trilogy by a Issac Asimov. Delaney is an amazing and thoughtful writer. Asimov is a scientist. Also anything by Octavia Butler

[umbrarchist]

1 hour ago, Delano said:

If you like science fiction check out Dahlgren by Daniel Delaney and Foundation Trilogy by a Issac Asimov. Delaney is an amazing and thoughtful writer. Asimov is a scientist. Also anything by Octavia Butler

I have read all 3 but could never make it half way through Dahlgren, too weird.

.

[Troy]

@Delano I was thinking about Octavia Butler in the context of @umbrarchist.  A novel like Kindred would probably have a SF density of 0.00.

[umbrarchist]

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler  - - - - - - - 1980
    SF density 0.029; Fantasy density of 0.157

 

JRRT.LOTR2_TwoTow.txt
    SF density 0.016; Fantasy density of 0.420

 

LMB.CursoChlALL.txt
    SF density 0.072; Fantasy density of 0.498

 

JA_Pride&Prejudice.txt
    SF density 0.032; Fantasy density of 0.085

 

I don't know if I have ever gotten an SF Density of 0.00. Because words have multiple meanings they may be used in a nonscientific context. Like the word 'orbit' might be used to refer to social relationships.

 

But I ran across this Unschooling business a couple of years ago and started reading about it. From their description I started Unschooling myself with science fiction in grammar school. The nuns taught no science whatsoever, so I ended up using info from SF books to research things in the encyclopedia. But some stuff called science fiction is just adventure stories with no science so I am analyzing it. There are more than 1000 free SF works in Project Gutenberg. I am not going to read all of them. So I need a filter.

.

Edited September 5, 2024 by umbrarchist
add more stuff

[Delano]

I just started to read again, regularly. I hadn't read for the last few years.

[umbrarchist]

3 hours ago, Delano said:

I just started to read again, regularly. I hadn't read for the last few years.

 

If you are looking for suggestions:

 

Daemon & Freedom by Daniel Suarez 

 

A book has to be good enough to overcome my antipathy for reading. The problem is finding them. I don't care about the quality of writing very much but the info/ideas in the story matter a lot. 

 

Daemon and Freedom are a single story spread across two books. There is a murder in the first 3 pages but the culprit is already dead. A daemon is a computer program that sits in the background and does nothing. It just waits for a trigger event to execute its code. If the code is to kill someone, it does not care.

 

https://www.lfs.org/newsletter/030/02/Suarez.shtml

 

There are two Black characters, male and female, but they are not involved in any way.

.

Edited September 7, 2024 by umbrarchist
Phone interruption, better review

[aka Contrarian]

I used to be an avid reader; best

sellers, novels, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, horror,  murder mysteries, sci-fi. Stephen King, Toni Morrison, all of 'em. 

The last book I read was 3 years ago. After that,  my vision began to fail. I can see far away, but I struggle with close up print. Reading glasses  don't help that much.

I used to work a crossword puzzle everyday but not any more, much to my dismay. The only reason I can participate on this site is because I put my phone on dark mode and when the background is black and the printing is white, I can see just fine. I need cataract surgery but  keep putting it off like I do any medical procedure because, at my age, I feel like it's more trouble than it's worth.  I really don't give a damn about much of anything any more. I'm losing interest in everything.  Even the election. I do, however, have enough passion left to detest black right wing Republicans.  

Lately I've been frequenting You Tube.  But not to watch videos. To listen to songs. All the oldies but goodies. Music is my drug of choice. It really does it for me. It's magic.

 

I keep saying I'm going to get into audio books but - maybe tomorrow. If tomorrow comes...

 

 Oh, me.

                     zzzzzzzz

[umbrarchist]

5 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:

I used to be an avid reader; best

sellers,  novels, fiction, nonfiction, biographies, horror,  murder mysteries, sci-fi. Stephen King, Toni Morrison, all of 'em. 

The last book I read was 3 years ago. After that,  my vision began to fail. I can see far away, but I struggle with close up print. Reading glasses  don't help that much.

 

I keep saying I'm going to get into audio books but - maybe tomorrow. If tomorrow comes...

 

 Oh, me.

                     zzzzzzzz

 

I use an app called AIReader for text to speech.  It is not as good as professionally done audiobooks but it is better than some of the free audiobooks in Librivox. It has some dumb flaws like saying Drive for the abbreviation of Doctor. You would think there was a setting for that.

[Delano]

14 hours ago, umbrarchist said:

 

A book has to be good enough to overcome my antipathy for reading. The problem is finding them. I don't care about the quality of writing very much but the info/ideas in the story matter a lot. 

I have read many books the writing has to be good and the story compelling.

@aka Contrarian I met  couple on the train with a new born. She was lucky and he was unlucky. I told them how they process life and they were amazed. 

 

I have found that in a conversation I can take a key word and tell the person how they approach life.

[ProfD]

8 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:

 I need cataract surgery but  keep putting it off like I do any medical procedure because, at my age, I feel like it's more trouble than it's worth.  I really don't give a damn about much of anything any more. I'm losing interest in everything. 

You've lived long enough to earn that right.

 

As time passes by, it becomes clearer that a whole lotta sh8t that we consume ourselves with in life is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

 

Then again, I can also see why we don't tell younger folks that the world is full of BS. It would be selfish to rob them of their life experiences.

8 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:

Music is my drug of choice. It really does it for me. It's magic.

Same here. Music has been an opiate throughout my life.

 

The more time I spent being musician and playing music reduced keeping my head in books.

 

As a young person, I'd check the maximum number of books out of the library to read them. I'd also read every book, magazine and newspaper laying around too.

 

I'm fairly certain my house would look like a  library if my passion for music hadn't consumed me. 

[umbrarchist]

5 hours ago, ProfD said:

Then again, I can also see why we don't tell younger folks that the world is full of BS. It would be selfish to rob them of their life experiences.

The entire automobile industry is bullshit. I never bought a new one. The Laws of Physics do not change style from one year to the next.

 

Where have economists listed the annual depreciation since Sputnik?

 

The Screwing of the Average Man (1974) by David Hapgood 

[Troy]

8 hours ago, Delano said:

 

I have found that in a conversation I can take a key word and tell the person how they approach life.

ooh, ooh do me next!

 

16 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:

I need cataract surgery but  keep putting it off

Get the surgery and have the out lenses in to correct i your vision it will be life changing

 

8 hours ago, ProfD said:

Music has been an opiate throughout my life.

Is it has a power of that transcends time and culture. 
 

2 hours ago, umbrarchist said:

I never bought a new one.

A new car is terrible investment. A good used one before they started increasing the prices used to be a good one.

The last car that I purchased new was in 2011 and I still drive it. I’m holding out for EV with the range batteries. 

[ProfD]

2 hours ago, Troy said:

Is it has a power of that transcends time and culture. 

Yep. I believe music can bridge gaps in humanity.

 

Musicians seem to get along across all lines once the instruments start talking.

 

IMO, we don't use music enough to bring harmony among people. 

2 hours ago, Troy said:

A new car is terrible investment. A good used one before they started increasing the prices used to be a good one.

A new vehicle makes sense if the buyer 1) keeps it for 10 years or longer or 2) makes money using it.

2 hours ago, Troy said:

 I’m holding out for EV with the range batteries. 

Interestingly, manufacturers are charging (no pun intended) a premium on EVs.

 

It seems like any savings in fuel and maintenance costs on EVs are being rolled into the vehicle price.

 

Battery range is definitely a key factor in buyer decisions nowadays. 

 

As an old man, I'll probably buy petro until I can no longer drive or they take my driver's license.

[Delano]

On 9/8/2024 at 7:59 AM, Troy said:

ooh, ooh do me next!

Ask me a question

[Troy]

@Delano how do I approach life?

 

On 9/7/2024 at 8:52 PM, ProfD said:

As an old man, I'll probably buy petro until I can no longer drive or they take my driver's license.

Have you driven up EV before? if not check one out it might feel differently

[Delano]

You dream , do research, then decide what closes matches the two and the research. This is complicated if you are other over or under  emotionally connected to the choice. Will post more later

[ProfD]

11 hours ago, Troy said:

Have you driven up EV before? if not check one out it might feel differently

I plan to keep my truck for a very long time.  Unless something changes in that regard, I have zero interest in EV.

[umbrarchist]

On 9/7/2024 at 4:59 PM, Troy said:

 A new car is terrible investment. A good used one before they started increasing the prices used to be a good one.

The last car that I purchased new was in 2011 and I still drive it. I’m holding out for EV with the range batteries. 

 

When have you ever heard any economist talk about depreciation of anything besides money? What has happened to the depreciation of all of the automobiles purchased by American consumers since Sputnik?

.

[ProfD]

Almost everything American consumers purchase is a depreciable asset or liability. 

 

The economy revolves around the consumption of products, goods and services. 

 

Folks wouldn't need money if they could produce their own food, clothing, shelter, transportation, entertainment, etc.

 

Of course, wealthy folks don't have to produce anything .  Just a matter of exploiting the less fortunate or living off the interest.

[umbrarchist]

1 hour ago, ProfD said:

Almost everything American consumers purchase is a depreciable asset or liability. 

 

The economy revolves around the consumption of products, goods and services. 

 

GDP is Grossly Distorted Propaganda 

 

We have a Cash Flow Economy rather than a Net Worth Economy.

Curiously Adam Smith wrote "read, write and ACCOUNT" multiple times in Wealth of Nations. I don't even know if my high school had an accounting course when I was there but the US could have made accounting mandatory since Sputnik.

 

Marx used the word 'depreciation' 35 times in the first two volumes of Das Capital. This was before the invention of gas powered automobiles. Planned Obsolescence did not become a thing until the 1920s. Then television advertising got added to the mix in the 1950s.

 

But doesn't planned obsolescence mean unnecessary manufacturing which means unnecessary CO2 put into the atmosphere?

 

Is there some reason Black Americans could not have been teaching accounting to Black kids without haole permission? Of course someone would blab.

 

Economic Wargames:  

https://www.spectacle.org/1199/wargame.html

.

 

Edited September 9, 2024 by umbrarchist
Add link

[Troy]

What, you don't like the $130K cyber truck @ProfD?

 

 

21 hours ago, umbrarchist said:

When have you ever heard any economist talk about depreciation of anything besides money?

 

The new automobile example I provided is often cited as an example.  Most people who have purchased a new car learns what this means when they resell their car. Anyone who has a business understand depreciation.

 

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, Troy said:

What, you don't like the $130K cyber truck @ProfD?

Nope. That's one fugly truck. I see quite a few of them around here. Don't think it will grow on me.

[Troy]

Yeah, the first time I saw one I was like what the F is that?!

 

You must live in a nice neighborhood if you see quite a few $130,000 automobiles on the road