25% of US Adults Don’t Read Books

FoxNews reports that 25% of US adults didn’t read a single book in 2006. Most of those who did read at least one book were women and senior citizens. The top books were religious works followed by popular fiction.

The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year . . . . Excluding those who had not read any, the usual number read was seven.

. . .

When the Gallup Poll asked in 2005 how many books people had at least started—a similar but not directly comparable question—the typical answer was five. That was down from 10 in 1999, but close to the 1990 response of six.

. . .

The Bible and religious works were read by two-thirds in the survey, more than all other categories. Popular fiction, histories, biographies and mysteries were all cited by about half, while one in five read romance novels. Every other genre—including politics, poetry and classical literature—were named by fewer than five percent of readers.

. . .

Those likeliest to read religious books included older and married women, lower earners, minorities, lesser educated people, Southerners, rural residents, Republicans and conservatives.

Read the whole story.

HT: Sermon Audio

Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .