came across this today:
It pretty much speaks for itself.
[quote]Ren wrote:
came across this today:
Who is Reading Books (and who is not)
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
–Jerrold Jenkins.
It pretty much speaks for itself.[/quote]
If true, very interesting - and disappointing - numbers.
Although I have an easy explanation for the lack of reading among college graduates - going to college gave them all the answers, what is left to gain from reading?
:>
Sigh…
Whatever…just makes me look smarter…fuck’em.
Damn… this makes me feel ashamed to be American…
Pick up a fucking book damnit! Books kick ass!
[quote]Beowolf wrote:
Damn… this makes me feel ashamed to be American…
Pick up a fucking book damnit! Books kick ass![/quote]
Why? You think other people read more?
[quote]orion wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
Damn… this makes me feel ashamed to be American…
Pick up a fucking book damnit! Books kick ass!
Why? You think other people read more?[/quote]
BINGO!
Good call O. These studies are great for making it appear that Americans are clods, with nothing to compare the numbers to.
[quote]Cunnivore wrote:
orion wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
Damn… this makes me feel ashamed to be American…
Pick up a fucking book damnit! Books kick ass!
Why? You think other people read more?
BINGO!
Good call O. These studies are great for making it appear that Americans are clods, with nothing to compare the numbers to.
[/quote]
You make it sound like Americans aren’t clods after all when instead it just means that most people in general are.
[quote]Ren wrote:
came across this today:
Who is Reading Books (and who is not)
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
–Jerrold Jenkins.
It pretty much speaks for itself.[/quote]
Why do the first two statistics internally contradict themselves? I suspected a typo so I checked out the website you gave (and the Jenkins one it supplied) and couldn’t find the 58% statistic listed.
Bah! Statistics can be used to prove any point. 14% of all people know that.
[quote]orion wrote:
Why? You think other people read more?[/quote]
No, but I would love to see the statistics on number of hours spent reading (anything) versus spent watching television (or being online) for other industrialized nations. I would also love to see a measure of functional literacy per GDP. Do you think we read less becasue we work more than any other country?
BTW, books are not virtuous because they contain words. There is a ton of crap out there that shouldn’t be read.
[quote]BabyBuster wrote:
Bah! Statistics can be used to prove any point. 14% of all people know that.[/quote]
Did you know 7/5 of all people don’t get statistics or probability?
I just spent three minutes reading this thread, do me be smarter now, or does that only work if I print the thread out and publish it?