Reading in Decline (Statistics)

"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half have never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half." —Gore Vidal, author.

Here are a few staggering statistics on how much (or little, rather) Americans read. (Source)

• Only 38% of adults in 2006 said they had spent time reading a book for pleasure the previous day.
• 65% of college freshmen in 2005 said they read little or nothing for pleasure.
• Only 56.6% of adult Americans said they read at least one book, fiction or non-fiction, between August 2001 and August 2002 compared to 60.9% ten years prior.
• Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
• 70% of Americans haven't visited a bookstore in five (5) years.
• Customers 55 and older account for more than one-third of all books bought.
• People reduced their time reading between 1996 and 2001 to 2.1 hours/month.
• Only 32% of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore.
  

The mean age of book buyers in 2001:

• Age 15-39: 20.8% of the books bought
• Age over 55: 44.1% of the books bought

In 2004, Americans spent

• 86 hours reading books, per person
  
• 1,673 hours watching TV, per person

I find this last figure horrifying. 1673 hours is a few hours shy of 70 days. This means that if you are average, every 5 years you will have spent 1 year with your brain glued to your television. Don't waste your life being spoon-fed on the couch. Feed yourself; read more. Think.

(Image source)