Wait.. is this because books are expensive? Or is the idea that if you have time to read, then you are financially so well off that you dont need to work 3 jobs to support your family.
Since we have free public libraries, my guess is mainly the time. Though basic reading ability and the interest would be needed.
Books have gotten awfully more expensive. Mentioned a book on Twitter and suddenly noticed its price when I bought it, $1.95. 😲
Okay but that's the 1981 edition, and $1.95 in '81 would be about four bucks today, and you can get that exact book currently for about $5 so it seems like it's kind of a wash?
Inflation would be almost $7 today, but used copies cost more than that, even in poor condition. Seems to be out of print, but Fantasia Mathematica - same type book, same format, by same author - Amazon shows list price of $44.99 though currently can get it for $34.12.
Those are used books, not new ones. $10-20, in general, or more if decent condition. "Good" is NOT good. Seen as high as $91.43. But again not new, so irrelevant to compare to its previous new price.
Last year’s OEDC research on adult literacy shows a decline in reading age amongst adults. Their report shows c 25% of US adults have a reading age of a 10 year old.
I was an avid reader my whole life & haven't been able to finish more than a 1/4 of a book I wasn't listening to, in over a decade because I've been trapped in flight or fight
That’s a book best read slow. It’s got details hidden in details. My hubs and I were talking about the book and I felt like I read a different book than he did.
This makes me a little sad, though, because it seems to imply that time + education are luxuries/privileges. They should be human rights. What do you think?
Readings a livery for some because often they don’t have the luxury of time when worked to the bone, working under paying jobs that cause those in poverty to have little time for them to recoup and escape into a book. Fuck capitalism.
This has been my barrier for years. There are so many reasons people don't read. It's not just about the cost of books. Libraries, Libby etc are great ways to eliminate that barrier, but what about other reasons? Poor mental health, working 15 hour days, childcare, disabilities, safety, education?
The best counter to my personal issues are audiobooks but it must be read from a good narrator. Marc Thompson is my favorite and he's narrated for a lot of Star Wars books so I can't lose.
I've read many biographies from ppl who grew up living in shitty conditions, whose parents worked tons of jobs and still had time to read. If you can't read fine but for many reading is the escape from poverty and horrific lives.
Tiktokers saying stupid shit for clicks and ppl think it's profound
Society used to put respect on knowledge and education, we don't anymore and saying "books are a luxury" is a way to fucking justify our descent into ignorance.
Just downloading the app - it’s this on iPhone right? Love that the US tiktock users are migrating there rather than the Suckoverse. Bad luck Zuck you creepy bully simp.
I told my 18 YO college freshman son that maybe now he might consider reading a book for pleasure, calling a friend or maybe even writing a letter ... he looked at me like I was from dullsville ...
I do cut him some slack though as he went thru 12 years of live shooter drills & 2 years of Zooming
How did we become so obscure, yet admired? This is something I have taken for granted since my Grandmother shoved "Dick and Jane" into my hands at age 3.
Reading has always been a luxury status symbol but it got pushed aside because some became more busy with spending & consumerism just to keep up with the Jonenes. Glad it's making a come back.
I’m grateful that I found books that made me fall back in love with reading again. I used to read a lot years ago. And now I’m reading often. I love it.
Lots of people are wondering if it's because books are expensive. No, it's because, reading a book requires time and energy that most people don't have. It's a luxury status symbol because you are displaying wealth in things other than money.
I need symbols like the latter seasons of the Handmaid's Tale. Running out of fingers but thumbs are not fingers which is why I have a legal loophole regarding smartphones.
Apps like Libby and Hopla are free to use with your free library card. many libraries eliminated late fees. i have also seen libraries lend board games, fishing equipment, provide free programs, lend space for meetings and help with studies. #SupportYourLocalLibrary
Is it about priorities? I love reading, so I make time in my day for it. I could be on here, scrolling, or bundling up that time to lose myself in a story.
I’m with you! I’m broke and have two little kids and still read 20-30 books a year. You have to prioritize it over your phone and we have a saying in our house “always being a book” we make time for what we love.
My sister-in-law visited us with her four kids. We played in the snow like demons, had lunch, and she said, "Ok, get your books." For two hours, the house was silent, as everyone curled into their seats. The kids ranged from eight to sixteen. Best thing ever.
I like to think people’s brains are so cooked by short form content that the prospect of reading an actual book is now a Herculean task. I feel like this to now. :(
Let's hope it cuts down on stupidity! Hopefully people are reading history or learning how govt. works, or about Robber Barrons and Tech Industrial Complex!!
Tremendous cultural contrast coming here to South Africa. It is still a reading culture - like the USA was 40 years ago. The bookstores thrive, and the latest titles matter culturally and socially.
Glad to help but this is just anecdotal, my experience living, being, reading here. Not sure what the trade magazines might have to say. I'm sure there's marketing data that captures this. Another factor: Netflix and Amazon Prime are stripped, limited by rights restrictions. Imagination is better.
Might have something to do with them limiting access to education and trying to get rid of libraries and the rising rate of students not properly being taught to read bc the us public education system hasn’t changed much since it was created. Nor is it focused on actual learning.
And an uneducated population is easy to manipulate and control and since we’re descending well into full blown fascism, it’s been entirely intentional.
I began reading a book on celtic Mythology but my brian has so much YouTube rot I'm hearing it in my head as if it's Stephen Trafford doing a templin institute lore dump
This sounds so dystopian. I feel like you do, too, and I also recognize the ability, time, and finances to read a good book for fun is privileged. That it’s become such a luxury is crushingly depressing, though.
I grew up poor but was lucky to have a mother who brought me to the library. I've worked with organizations who bring books to book deserts, it's sad that there are people out there who can't afford or can't utilize a library. That's why I have a little free library, to make it available to all
I used to teach elementary school. You wouldn’t believe the number of my students’ parents who could not read a word. Illiteracy is still a big problem in some places.
For the young it's just a bookshelf full in the back ground😔
I say a good start would be bring back the morning paper to the breakfast table! Put the phones down !
Nice! I have a few that I haven't read, but I'm reading more. I just haven't been getting enough rest, and I've been writing more than I've been reading. It's how I work out problems.
I remember reading the back side of the paper while my mom had it open at breakfast- just good memories and more discussion VS silence and everyone looking at a phone with no talking at all
True perhaps but I felt his pain. What a beautiful future he had no people to annoy him and all the books. Sadly he forgot about the starvation, radiation sickness and roaming mutants.
I wonder how ubiquitous even Twilight Zone references can be anymore. There's literacy, and there's media literacy, and then there's media literacy when "media" is just a firehose on full.
I think I read Lyn Venable's shirt story after seeing Bradbury recommending it (1985 or so).
Rod Serling worked with whatever script they rustled up that week. He was a master writer, but some material is better than others. How to made-do? He bolsters the weak with his intro/outro. The best have little or none. FYI, another terrific source of a TZ episode: http://ciscohouston.com/docs/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html
It's not new. This has always been true. Books cost money, require access to eduction, and require a great deal of leisure time. In the 1800s, people would just buy books for display due to the cost and not bother reading them
One of my publishers was asked by some North American homeware company to reissue a series of mine in particular colours so they could use it in show-home type displays to show some kind of semi-intellectual aesthetic. Reader, they agreed. Book as marketing prop 🙄
Because folks arent clearly spending time on TikTok. And libraries, including online access to them, is totally not a thing. And Project Gutenberg doesn't exist. Phones will tell you how long you've been on them nowadays. Theres no excuses.
It's not the 1800s, it's 2025 and books can be obtained from the library. Even digitally and sent right to your phone to read there. And they require no more leisure time than the time we spend on social media.
this doesn't account for the different kinds of time and focus - doomscrolling socials is more accessible partly because it requires less attention, partly because it's more easily chunked, and yeah partly also because of all the manipulative design and fomo etc etc.
but also some of us, even lifelong readers, can't read books on phone screens - i don't know what part of my brain is supposed to do that and misfires instead, i don't know why i can read socials but not novels, i don't know why my kindle is fine but the phone isn't. but it's true.
and having worked for several libraries, i can tell you they're not always as accessible as they want to be. websites are often outdated or badly designed, staff can be truly hit or miss (not to mention perpetually distracted and underfunded) and that's if people who need it even make it to the door
i've been homeless and had no ID for a while, couldn't get a library card, couldn't stay in one place long enough to return a book, didn't have anywhere to keep it anyway that wouldn't get gross.
even assuming housed people are stable enough to build and maintain those habits can be a stretch.
I don't have trouble reading short stories on my phone (just now read "Time Enough at Last" on Project Gutenberg), but novels are often harder to stay focused on than 📚. 🤔
Reading isn't accessible to everyone because many people can't read. The average reading level for an adult in the US is a 6th grade reading level. There is also disability to take into consideration. Homes large enough to accommodate a book collection. I just saw someone discuss their 1/
Book purchases the other day. The bought a sp3cial addition which cost too much money, to sit on the shelf and never read, then bought the ebook to actually read. Which is even more money to spend on a thing you already have.
To say nothing of accessibility to both the disabled and the poor social media is free and can be done at home. Does everyone have access to *get* to a library? Do they have a vehicle? Does the bus go there? Does their town even have a library? Is it open outside working hours? If you work 2 jobs?
Do you need a valid ID to get a library card? A valid address? Depends on where you are. Yes, a library is free, but only if there is one where you live or can get to. Yes, you can get free ebooks without going in person, but only if you can go in person to get a card and the selection is limited
Something just came to me. Maybe all those idiots who are banning and burning books are not just bigots maybe they are ashamed of not being able to read the books that they are burning because they are not able to read. SMH. Just a thought.
Fuck yeah. I have a library card and *two* book boxes near my house. I assume the house prices here will rise sharply soon as clearly this is gentrification.
To be fair, libraries are soooo much more than just books these days:
-a communal place to hang out/play games/study/work
-place where you can borrow tools/games/computers/etc.
-do arts & crafts from 3D printing to making your clothes
-baby/children meet-ups and rooms
The attention span of the average TikToker is 10 minutes so they can barely read instructions on how to microwave a prefab meal in 10 minutes. Even a great comic takes longer.
I’m happy whenever reading and books make a comeback but I’m giggling at all the well-populated bookcases that are feverishly popping up in interior designs. Bonus: the spines are facing the right direction and are not colour coded. Yay!
At least they aren't blank. Remember that trend? Pretty covers with no titles? Usually also color coded, as previously mentioned. We're almost back to real-books-we-pretend-we-read.
Oh, I see the confusion. The blank ones I was talking about were also empty book shaped boxes. That didn't even have any words on the spines. Those are pretending to be real, at least.
I swear I saw someone say this about tiktok users and it's like, at some point any Internet use is going to involve reading so how the hell are these people navigating social media??
"Close reading, by contrast, correlates with deep attention, the cognitive mode traditionally associated with the humanities that prefers a single information stream, focuses on a single cultural object for a relatively long time, and has a high tolerance for boredom." [2/2]
From Hayles' book 'How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis': "Hyper reading correlates..with hyper attention, a low threshold for boredom, alternates flexibly between different information streams, and prefers a high level of stimulation. [1/2]
Since you guys are about to loose your freedoms,and attack the rest of the world (that is us also) with that sociopathic fellon at helm you elected freewillngly, I'll let you win.
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#WritingCommunity
Books have gotten awfully more expensive. Mentioned a book on Twitter and suddenly noticed its price when I bought it, $1.95. 😲
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31918038093&dest=usa&ref_=ps_ggl_18382194370&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780671438074USED
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/the-mathematical-magpie-9780671438074
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-mathematical-magpie_clifton-fadiman/927897/item/54697947/
I was an avid reader my whole life & haven't been able to finish more than a 1/4 of a book I wasn't listening to, in over a decade because I've been trapped in flight or fight
It's horrible
Reflecting on it as I got older it was still helpful to have that framework to approach the modern empire with despite not understanding it much then
.
.
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Ok, ok, it's not my books 😭
https://marlowe1.substack.com/p/bloodbath-at-landsdale-towers-by
£0.00*1,058,420.62% = £0.00
I'm glad you've got a solution! It's distressing to not be able to access something that for many is a coping mechanism.
Tiktokers saying stupid shit for clicks and ppl think it's profound
Calling reading a luxury status symbol harks back to the 1700s…
Not grade eight.
I was reading at a college level by then.
https://youtu.be/T7K0pZ9tGi4?si=pBwR9w6C3O05qBCp
I do cut him some slack though as he went thru 12 years of live shooter drills & 2 years of Zooming
I was there for New Year's eve.
Nice flint church in the town centre.
I say a good start would be bring back the morning paper to the breakfast table! Put the phones down !
But I'll take your point figuratively 😉
I think I read Lyn Venable's shirt story after seeing Bradbury recommending it (1985 or so).
even assuming housed people are stable enough to build and maintain those habits can be a stretch.
(Just don't look at my clothes, hair, or what I drive)
I choose the latter.
Bc everyone should have the ability and time for reading. Ppl should have the ability to stay informed.
Reading is knowledge and knowledge is power. So what are we going to do to shift this back?
We are moving backwards...
Which is just a different kind of sad.
Welp, I'm wealthy then.
-a communal place to hang out/play games/study/work
-place where you can borrow tools/games/computers/etc.
-do arts & crafts from 3D printing to making your clothes
-baby/children meet-ups and rooms
Books are only one aspect.
I bet the biggest difference between Bluesky users and MAGA is we read, and they don't.
Get my e-book here!! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/close-encounters-of-the-wtf-kind-parts-i-ii-annie-piacentini/1145530781