John's Blog - Latest Comments in The Decline of Reading

Re: The Decline of Reading

BusbyTest — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:22:42 -0000

A publisher recently told me that 75% of all purchased books are never read. And something like 90% of all new purchases are done by women.
........Is this true Carl Parrish?

Re: The Decline of Reading

Brian — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:03:05 -0000

I agree with GFS3. In early elementary school, myself and my (albeit somewhat nerdy) friends were very into reading. That desire to read dropped dramatically as more and more "boring" - huge quotes back there - books were forced down our throats (or.. eyes?).

Re: The Decline of Reading

GFS3 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:52:40 -0000

Hi John:
Some good insight in your post. As a book addict (its a quiet, non-violent addiction), I worry about the decline in reading as well. I think the solution rests in our inability to teach the joy of reading. Perhaps we shouldn't force high school students to start reading Dickens and Shakespeare first. Isn't that like asking our kids to learn to love baseball by trying to hit Roger Clemens on their first at bat?

Here's a better solution:

http://darkpartyreview.blogspot.com/2007/11/ess...

Re: The Decline of Reading

Carl Parrish — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:44:19 -0000

A publisher recently told me that 75% of all purchased books are never read. And something like 90% of all new purchases are done by women.

Re: The Decline of Reading

Robert Accettura — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:41:58 -0000

I think part of the reason for the decline in reading has to do with how we've become such a textual society. Once upon a time the majority of a job wasn't about staring at glyphs on a computer screen. These days, between computers on every office desk, mobile email, mobile web, etc. etc. tickers on the bottom of news channels, and so on, we spend the majority of our life deciphering these squiggles.

Most leisure reading these days is dual purpose, such as reading rss feeds, for both education and fun.

I'll be perfectly honest. After sitting in front of a computer 10hrs a day, the last thing I really feel like doing is staring at text during the little time to relax.

I guess the saying holds true even on a slightly different topic... Even people who live in [insert tropical island here] go somewhere on vacation. Despite home being a paradise. While reading may be relaxation, people who do it all day, desire something that's non-work-like.