How Much Do Americans Read?

The Pew Research Center released survey results in January of this year about Americans and how many books they are reading.  The numbers were rather encouraging.

Here, for example, is the breakdown of the number of books read by men and women in 2013:
                       
                                                           Mean                       Median

Total for all adults over 18                    12                                 5
Men                                                       10                                 4
Women                                                  14                                 6                  

Older adults read more than younger adults.  People with more years of schooling read more than those with fewer.  People with higher incomes read more than people with lower incomes.  No surprises in any of that.

Pew generated this information by conducting phone surveys -- landline and cell -- of Americans.

Here is my problem.  I don't think the numbers add up.

I think when the phone survey people called Americans and asked how many books they had read, a lot of people thought to themselves, "Gee, I'll sound foolish if I say how little reading I do, so I'll just estimate on the high side."

Yes, I'm a cynic.  But I found another study of American reading from 2002, and its results seem to back up what I'm saying.


Reading at Risk

This 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts compared reading trends for the previous 20 years.  Here are some of the results.


                                                                        1982                                             2002

Read any book in that year                             60.9%                                           56.2%

Read a literary book that year                         54.9%                                           46.6%

The NEA found a 10 percent decline in literary reading (novels, poems, plays), a drop of 20 million readers over the 20-year period.  Among young adults aged 18 to 24, the drop was 28 percent. For adults aged 25-34, the drop was 23 percent.

If only 56 percent of adults read even one book in 2002, I don't see how you come up with a median (half read more, half fewer) reading rate of five books per person 11 years later as book-reading was continuing its decline.

Please note that I'm not saying people are reading nothing  -- just a few weeks ago I noted that BuzzFeed attracts 150 million page views per month -- but that book reading is on the decline.

Another finding from the 2002 survey suggested a correlation between literary reading and civic participation, as well as involvement in other arts, in that year.

                                                                        Literary Readers             Non-literary Readers

Volunteer/charity Work                                      43.0%                                   17.0%

Visit Art Museums                                             44.0%                                   12.0%

Attend Performing Art Events                            49.0%                                   17.0%

Attend Sporting Events                                       46.0%                                   27.0%


Conclusion:

It is not for me to say what people should do, and I know for a fact that a great many books being published these days are just plain dreadful.  But the practice of reading and thinking about what you have read is helpful when you go to vote or when you are deciding which car to buy or which bank account works for you.  Careful thinking is a skill like any other, improved with practice.  For me, that has involved reading.  Maybe there are other ways to get there; I hope people are finding them.