40% of Britons haven’t read a single book in the last 12 months
https://yougov.co.uk/entertainment/articles/51730-40-of-britons-havent-read-a-single-book-in-the-last-12-months
Posted by UuusernameWith4Us
40% of Britons haven’t read a single book in the last 12 months
https://yougov.co.uk/entertainment/articles/51730-40-of-britons-havent-read-a-single-book-in-the-last-12-months
Posted by UuusernameWith4Us
43 Comments
I moved onto audiobooks. I do enjoy reading, but audiobooks work better with my ADHD.
Easy habit to fall out of.
Books are awesome but matching the book to the reader isn’t always fun.
All my book consumption is done via Audible now. Haven’t read a physical book in at least three years.
I get through a book every couple of weeks, usually. I miss not having the time to consume physical books but the fact I can get through more content now is great.
And it shows in everything from voting patterns, and cultural attitudes to online discourse. My working experience in the UK has left me aghast at communications by adults that read as though written by ten year olds.
You are honestly putting your children at an intellectual/educational/career disadvantage if you don’t get them into reading from an early age.
Tbh, ‘60% of Britons have read a book in the last 12 months’ is actually a better headline than I thought
Currently reading the book Narrowboat by LTC Rolt. It’s extremely delightful
Be interested in the venn diagram of households with adults and children that don’t read despite the book vouchers and libraries(public and school)
I haven’t had time to read for me properly for a few years, but we read to our daughter every day often a few books.
doesn’t this basically mean 60% of Britons HAVE read a book in the last 12 months?
That is genuinely much higher than I thought it would be
I read about 50 A4 pages a day for work as is, if not more. My eyes need a break when I get home. I switch on a good pod cast and just chill.
While this can be seen as a bad thing I think most people would see this as not much of an issue. What brings young people to read books?
Used to read about 30 books a year but now struggle to get through 12 a year. I finished a book in 2 days while on holiday recently, it’s been a while since I was able to do that! Requires the peace of a holiday!
I read to my daughter ever week night. Does that count?
I don’t think I’ve read a book in about 5 or 6, if not more years. Never have any spare time.
I love reading, and I used to be an avid reader, but now I’m older I tend to find myself gaming, watching stuff or going to the gym when i have free time. Having a family means I don’t usually have time to just sit and read.
I used to read loads when my job was mostly office based as I had lots of time each day commuting to fill. Now I work mostly at home I honestly hardly read at all. The exception is when I go on holiday I like to have a book or two.
No going to lie, this is me.
It’s not that I don’t like to read and I certainly have plenty of books but I’m in my late 40’s now and anytime of the day I’ll be dammed if I don’t fall asleep about 10minutes after I start reading.
Spoiler alert: half of those are parents who have read the same book for the last year to their children at bedtime
There’s no way 60% have read a book in the last 12 months! I’d be surprised if 60% even clicked past the headlines of a story on a news site.
And that’s why all these kids are going into school for World Book Day dressed as TV and film characters. Their parents can’t follow through with a simple assignment.
We need to improve infant literacy but how can we do that if parents don’t set the example?
It can help a lot if one wants to read books, to “book” some time off to do so.
Additionally a daily journal is good idea to write as well as read daily.
I think part of the issue is people don’t know what to read. If you google “books to read” you’ll get the same list of classics which aren’t for everyone
It takes time and research to curate a personal library
I read between 365 and 730 books a year depending on how demanding my kids are for a second Mr Men / Little Miss
Yet they all have deep political expertise on foreign affairs, as we see on reddit.
to be fair im one of them… i guess im just not a big book guy? i do plenty of reading though, just not specifically books.
I used to read a lot when i was young but… well there’s so many distractions these days it can be hard to find time to i guess.
What am I William Wordsworth? There’s far too much on the telly right now is MAFS Australia just gonna watch itself then??
I probably fall into that 40%. I used to rip through books like crazy when I was commuting by train, but since working from home I struggle to dedicate the time when there’s other forms of media I enjoy more.
Do audiobooks count? My time is precious, I can’t dedicate it solely to a book 😂
With all of the other distractions in my house I find it very difficult to finish a book.
I’m on my second book of the year but if I spent the same amount of time reading as I do sat browsing Reddit on my phone whilst something on Netflix/Disney+/Prime is playing on the TV, I probably could have got through my whole bookcase by now.
The hard thing for me is having to concentrate absolutely on a book – I need to be in silence with no distractions or background noise, something I don’t need to commit to for any other past-time.
If manga counts I’ve read 4 this week lol. But am also reading Blood Meridian currently Most memorable book from last year for me was The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler.
>When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to travel to the remote Con Dao Archipelago to investigate a highly intelligent, dangerous octopus species, she doesn’t pause long enough to look at the fine print. DIANIMA – a transnational tech corporation best known for its groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence – has purchased the islands, evacuated their population and sealed the archipelago off from the world so that Nguyen can focus on her research.
>But the stakes are high: the octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence and there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of their advancements. And no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.
I like reading, but I don’t really judge folk for not doing so. Sometimes people just never find the time or do not prefer to receive info through the medium of books. Books are great for none-fiction/history, but most read for fiction/entertainment value. Reading Throne of Glass doesn’t make you a better person than the fella who loves a good James Bond marathon or a Warhammer audiobook.
Sometimes I don’t even have time to eat lunch, how do you expect me to read?
I’m busy.
Like, I leave for work at 7:30, I get home at 7:30.
I’m meant to go to the gym, cook all my meals, etc etc., when would I have time to read? I love reading but it’s just not high on my priority list right now.
Most people read articles and stuff online
It’s not like people aren’t reading at all. They’re just not reading hard copy books as much
I read a book once, that caterpillar sure was hungry…
I didn’t read any, mostly read documentation for the stuff that I use at work and news
I decided this year that rather than doom scroll in the evenings, I’d read some books instead. So far I’ve read ‘20,000 leagues under the Sea – Jules Verne’, ‘Odyssey – Stephen Fry’ and ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson’. All great reads and way better than wasting my life looking at complete shit. Will probably pick another one up from the Library at the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I still do a lot of doom scrolling but reading a book feels a lot more constructive.
I’ve been struggling to put time aside to read but with audio books I can listen while I do chores around the house or whatever.
I spend 8-10hours reading a computer screen for work more time looking at my phone than I want to admit I now read very little for my own fun I do listen to audio books which may or may not count depending who you ask! I’m surprised people read as much as that article suggests.
Always dubious of these polls.. from what I can gather just over 3000 took part in the survey. Which isn’t a bad figure but it’s hardly definitive of being the whole of Britain
Fairly sure a large number of people where I live are actually illiterate so that would be an amazing number.
Does reading fanfics online count, or does it have to be a physical book?
I tried to get back into reading. I never made it past 8 pages as it turns out it was a trigger for me to sleep so everyone by the pool heard me everyday snoring!
I think I’ve only read one.
Really sad how much my attention spam has dropped and how easy is it to doomscroll on your phone instead. When I was a kid I used to read all sorts of fiction and reference books non-stop.