I was just reading the PEW report concerning reading in 2013. With just the base facts: 3 in 10 adults read an ebook; half own a tablet or e-reader; 92% of adults own a cell phone (majority as smart phone); and the typical American (who read a book) read five books over the last year, but that only 4% of readers are digital only.
First and foremost, I'm happy about the five, but only become from other studies I had heard, it was a lower number, so in that way five is a plus, over something like one. In looking closely at the foot notes though I found these two to be interesting.
3- Though the mean represents the average number of books read, this number can be skewed by a relatively small number of very avid readers; this is why it is so much higher than the median, which shows the midpoint number of books read and therefore is a better measure of what the “typical” American’s reading habits look like.
4- Among only adults who did read a book in the past year, the mean is 16 books and the median is 7.
These two do provide some interesting aspects when you are examining the data. Consider #4 that "among only adults who did read a book" - that makes me wonder about how many adults "did not read a book" which their report later states as 23%. And #3 does help provide the curve skewed data in that the average and the middle are not the same, and that there is a group of avid readers who can make that shift, which for this study was only identified as those that read more than 20 books in a year. I know that in LibraryThing there is a discussion group/club of people who read over a hundred books a year, they would be in that skewing group. But they would also be representative of people who are purchasing a lot of books, so while they may not be the majority of readers, they would be representative of those that are buying a lot of books. Those are the ones I think about when I read that average reading hasn't changed, but a number of bookstores have closed. I wonder about that 4% - how many are they reading?
Now for more on the ebook side. There usually needs to be some kind of saturation of tool available now that tablets and e-readers are at 50% of people have one or the other, then there is good saturation. Which helps show the growth in reading from such devices has grown since 2011.
3- Though the mean represents the average number of books read, this number can be skewed by a relatively small number of very avid readers; this is why it is so much higher than the median, which shows the midpoint number of books read and therefore is a better measure of what the “typical” American’s reading habits look like.
4- Among only adults who did read a book in the past year, the mean is 16 books and the median is 7.
These two do provide some interesting aspects when you are examining the data. Consider #4 that "among only adults who did read a book" - that makes me wonder about how many adults "did not read a book" which their report later states as 23%. And #3 does help provide the curve skewed data in that the average and the middle are not the same, and that there is a group of avid readers who can make that shift, which for this study was only identified as those that read more than 20 books in a year. I know that in LibraryThing there is a discussion group/club of people who read over a hundred books a year, they would be in that skewing group. But they would also be representative of people who are purchasing a lot of books, so while they may not be the majority of readers, they would be representative of those that are buying a lot of books. Those are the ones I think about when I read that average reading hasn't changed, but a number of bookstores have closed. I wonder about that 4% - how many are they reading?
Now for more on the ebook side. There usually needs to be some kind of saturation of tool available now that tablets and e-readers are at 50% of people have one or the other, then there is good saturation. Which helps show the growth in reading from such devices has grown since 2011.
PEW Report is available at http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2014/01/PIP_E-reading_011614.pdf
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