Americans basically don't read, and it's embarrassing

-- A new study finds that Americans basically do not read books

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Broadcast on February 22, 2024

#davidpakmanshow #reading #books

[SquarelyGames]

Wait, almost 50% reads an entire book each year?

I have a masters degree and read quite a few books as a kid, now I only really read news articles and scientific journals. Listens to the occasional audio book.

I think that number is way higher than I would imagine.

[kathleenleonard]

I am 72 and read every day. I do have a graduate degree in English Literature. However, my grandparents ended school at 8th grade and had to go to work. Each of them was an avid reader. My maternal grandma read Greek and Roman myths to me when I was a child, and I've loved them ever since. Now, I read to my granddaughter every day. She is 8 years old and can read at the adult level. She loves to read. My youngest son read Proust and enjoyed his work very much. Reading is pure joy.

[brianm]

Thank God I just started a book like two days ago, now I don't have to feel ashamed...

[GilbertHorn]

When I was a child my parents taught me to read by the time I was seven. They took me to a library and said: look at all the books. What should I read?
Dad said “Anything “!
Mom said “Everything “!
I’m 77 and still working as hard as I can to read as much as I can.
So much to read, so little time.

[CanadianSmoke]

I read about a book every two weeks... I cannot imagine not reading.

[TonboIV]

No idea how many books I read a year, but I read all the time. I have been since I was a teenager. I don't read because I _should._ I read because I _like to._

[fred]

My Grandfather was born in 1893 and died 1971. He was not allowed to attend school beyond the 3rd grade. He was Black living in Souith Carolina so there wasn't an intrest in having educated Blacks. This man after he left the South read everything he could get mostly my school books. He and my grandmother who did have a little more education used to read to me every night and bought me books . For them education was freedom. Both of them lived to see me gradutate high school and enter College.

[marksaleski]

I read just under 40 books last year. These numbers frighten me.

[dsusanyoung]

Children NOT reading is a parental issue. That’s where desire to read starts. Children who are consistently read to from their earliest years on are set up to become readers. Their vocabulary is stronger so they decode faster because they recognize the words. Listening, comprehension, and observation skills are sharper. By middle school, my readers had better writing skills, broader background knowledge on a wide variety of topics, showed more empathy and compassion towards others.

As a middle school teacher, I always read to my students. Most enjoyed it and some became so interested in the plot that they checked out a copy from the library and read ahead. But as technology became readily available, motivating children to read became more difficult. It’s difficult to turn children into readers when their families aren’t readers. They don’t read to do research; if it isn’t a TickTock video, they grow bored. Writing is more difficult because they haven’t absorbed what a strong sentence sounds like.

Once they are in school, it’s so much harder for us to motivate children to read. It isn’t part of their lives and they see little reason to do it. And when they come from homes where no one reads, who can they talk to about what they are reading? Book discussions are one of the best parts of reading.

[pickledragonrebel]

Couldnt imagine not reading every day. How bizarre that ppl dont read.

[stw]

I couldn't agree with you more, David! I can remember being around age four or so and thinking that reading seemed so magical and wondering if I would be able to learn how to do it. Maybe that's one reason why reading has never lost its magic for me. I also grew up with a father who was a voracious reader and who didn't censor what we read but who scolded us harshly if we ever disrespected a book by turning it over on its spine. I literally cannot imagine how people can have no desire to read, to learn, to expand their experience in an number of infinite ways. Their worlds must be so small! I really hope that your video encourages some of your viewers to give reading another try if they have negative associations with school or if they have just fallen out of the habit or whatever. Thank you!

[NYRangers]

I'm surprised it's that high, actually. I read every day, but I didn't read a book all last year. I basically just read articles.

[carmadefries]

I read over 30 last year, not including books read to children. ❤

[PatsyStone]

I’m a reader…not of e-books, but old fashioned hard back or paperbacks. I ❤ reading

[barbaracollins]

I've been an avid reader all my life. I have literally thousands in my home, even after donations to my local library. This past Friday, I picked 8 new ones. As of this Sunday morning, I am almost through one of them. I was already reading when I entered the first grade at age 5. I'm now 68 and still read for hours a day. Reading is knowledge. This was encouraged by my parents . Read what you like, even what you don't like. You ALWAYS learn something. It truly broadens your horizens.

[doughtywylie]

UK here. I imagine the numbers are the same here too :( I have always loved reading and growing up we didn't have many and for some reason didn't go to the library. I was so desperate I would read all the cereal boxes and cans etc all the time. Newspapers too. We did have a two volume dictionary and encyclopedias that we loved and played a game of finding a word we didn't know and giving different definitions and see if others could guess the correct meaning. (They had a show here called Call My Bluff that did just that. When I had my own kids we always had more than a hundred children's books that I often picked up at thrift stores, along with adult and child encyclopedias. At bedtime they could pick one or two books each that we would read to them. My daughter would walk around reading and actually got in trouble for reading in class rather than doing her work :) My one failing would be that I only read fiction books and anything else only in article form. I just can't imagine not wanting to read. I always keep a basket of books and magazines in the bathroom too :)

[nunyabusiness]

I moved to red texas about 7 years ago, right before the rise of trump (Don't do it. I literally could not make ends meet in california and do what i enjoy doing anymore, it's awful here.). Finding anybody who's read a book....ever is challenging. I basically live in near total isolation because the only conversations people want to have are about trump and which skin color or ethnicity they hate.

[Sharon-rkfi]

Thank you!!! I used to read 1to3 books in a week!!! Exactly!!!! Some of them changed my life!!! But Haven't read a book in years!! Going to get reading, again!!!❣️❣️❣️thank you!☺️

[glacialregret]

I generally read 16 to 20 books a year. I can't imagine not wanting to read...this boggles the mind. Although I know quite a few people who don't read at all.

[nicholasschoonbeck]

I know that some people don't agree with me, but comics & graphic novels are great too. If you need some suggestions outside of the major superhero stuff, the entire Sandman library, the entire Kabuki library, the 2 Maus books about WW2, & one of the best, most recent books is It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood, which is about her experience, during Covid, after the success of her 1st book, & the pressure to make something again, which is a very human story & especially if you've only ever seen comics as a superhero genre, you're really missing out on how beautiful & profound story telling can be when its both prose & sequential art.