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.