Americans Reading Fewer Books

 

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are reading fewer books than in the past. This conclusion is based on a Dec. 1-16 poll where Americans were asked how many books they has "read, either all or part of the way through" in the past year. Those questioned were told to include all printed books, e-books and audiobooks.

The average number of books read went down to 12.6 in 2021, from 15.6 in 2016. This is down considerably from the 1999 average of nearly 19 books a year.

I've been keeping lists of the books I've read each year since January, 2011. In the eleven years from Jan.2011 to Dec. 2021, I've read 419 books. That's an average of 38 books each year. Of course, my situation is a bit different than the average American. I've always been a "reader", and now that I'm retired, my three main hobbies are reading books, riding bicycles, and listening to R&B.

I do, however, have to question the reliability of that particular Gallup poll. The numbers are derived from the respondents being asked to self report the numbers. From my personal observation, I believe that most of the people answering the question picked "one book a month" as their answer because most were embarrassed to admit to having read no books the entire year. As much as I hate to admit it, most of the people I know are not readers. According to the poll, 17% of U.S. adults say they did not read any book in 2021 - I'd say, in my view, it's more likely than only 17% of U.S. adults actually read a book last year.

I'm sure there may be some reading this post who think that I'm bragging, or otherwise looking down on the adults who don't read. I'm not. I realize that reading really isn't something everyone enjoys doing. I know that very few people are going to read 152 books a year as I did in 2021, but surely, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a book from time to time.