Poll: One in Four Americans Read No Books Last Year

Twenty-five percent of Americans did not read a single book last year. Not about Harry Potter, not a James Patterson Alex Cross detective novel, not the Bible, not a single book.

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll concludes that one in four Americans did not read one book in the past year. The actual percentages are 73 percent who have read a book in the previous year, 27 percent had not. The poll's margin for error is three percent plus or minus.The figures from the poll of 1,003 adults taken August 6-8, 2007.

The press is filled daily with news stories about J.K. Rowling, reportedly going from welfare to having more money than the Queen of England, about a controversial book from O.J. Simpson in which he supposedly offers a hypothetical scenario on how he would've murdered his wife, and about other books or book-related issues. But, despite all this attention to a major part of human intellectual life, most people are missing it.

25% DON'T READ BOOKS

The average person read four books, half read more, half fewer. Forty-one percent reported reading up to five books, 31 percent read between six and 15 books, and 27 percent read more than 15. The total number of books read rises to seven when you eliminate those who sad they had not read any books.

Leading the book-reading bunch are women and seniors. Top reading preferences during the year-long period were the Bible and religious works at 64 percent. That's followed by popular fiction and nonfiction history, each at 54 percent, nonfiction biography and mystery/thrillers each lock in at 48 percent, and romance novels at 21 percent. all categories of books beyond that are in the low single-digitis...business, politics, science fiction, fantasy, technical books, and poetry, among others.

WHY?

Almost anyone reading these statistics, including non-readers, will agree that this is not a good thing. Those same people will offer an assortment of reasons why people do not read. Even in casual conversation, many observe that they are "too busy" to read while many, if not most, naturally find competition for their attention from television, movies, and the computer.

It's hard to escape the thought that if these people actually wanted to read, they would.

Nonreaders could carry a paperback with them to read while killing time. People find oppiortunities to talk to other people. That's a natural inclination. But, there are occasion when everyone has time to just stare into space. That's a good time to haul out the book and read it. How about a couple minutes of winding-down time in bed before turning off the lights? My girlfriend listens to audiobooks while she's on the computer. So do I on those occasions when I take evening walks (while especially alert at street corners, of course). Be sure you actually keep some books around. Have a book at hand in the bathroom; skip War and Peace in this case and go for short stories.

You don't need to set aside an hour at a time to read a book, although desirable. Use a little imagination to work reading into your daytime schedule.