Books...Who Reads Books Anymore?

[xoxoxoBruce]

This site has a jillion statistics about the publishing business, some of which I found depressing.

One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.

42% of college graduates never read another book.

80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

57% of new books are not read to completion.

That sounds rather dire but I suppose with all the entertainment/time-filling options available (with their instant gratification), it's a lot of competition for books.
If you get gratification from reading it's instant, but if the gratification doesn't come till you finish the book, some electronic options might appear more attractive.

Yeah, I know....too damn busy. Life can be pretty hectic and it's hard to read when you fall asleep on the first paragraph.

But there are a lot of books being published. Especially with the rise of small or self publishers, enabled by electronics.

Some of the statistics are dated but interesting anyway.....at least to me.