Friday 5 July 2013

Reading Time

An interesting little article caught my attention the other day showing a breakdown of 30 countries and the average hours they spend reading each week. Australia was right in the middle at 6.3hrs, while India took the lead at 10.7, followed by Thailand at 9.24 and China at 8.

The data was from 2004/2005 (so it'd be interesting to see an updated survey), but nevertheless, it seemed quite timely with the school holidays now on as Facebook friends' statuses have been full of trips to the library to stock up on reading material over the break - even with a few photos of the piles of books they've purchased.

Reading is something we like to talk about and it's often a way we establish rapport and strike up a conversation with people by asking 'What do you like to read?' When visiting old friends and new, I find myself gravitating to their bookshelf to see what they're into and what I could possibly borrow. We value reading, we love learning about people through what they're reading and we love sharing our latest great (or terrible) finds. But most of all, I'm sure all of us would love much more time to read. So fellow Aussies, let's catch up to India, who's with me to add another 3 odd hours of reading to our week?

2 comments:

  1. I'm all for some more reading. One thing that I prefer is the Kindle or Kindle-like device. Since I've gone electronic I find the girth of a hardcover book awkward. Highlighting without defacing the paper on an eReader is useful too.

    That said, when we do talk about books (and what is on our bookshelves), it's much easier to refer to (and loan out) a physical book. Most readers seem to prefer the tactile print and page. And I am sure the printers detest these new business models... even if maybe the publishers get plenty more sales on the basis of a much lower price point.

    Since digitisation has happened I must have increased my reading time tenfold (from a very low base I must admit).

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  2. Hey Matt, I haven't gone down the Kindle path yet... I probably will eventually. I've got nothing against e-books although I do lament that they've made reading in public quite a private experience. How interesting that you now find paper books awkward.

    It's great that your reading has dramatically increased since digitisation!

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