my cart |

(To view entire post, click on the "Read more" link under each post)

Mon, 06/23/2008

Thoughts on Reading by Tyler Cowen:

(View entire post here)

This week, as your guest blogger, I'll be sharing some of my thoughts with you about reading and that includes how an economist thinks about reading, why we read, and how we can make our reading more effective and more enjoyable.

It's often claimed reading is in trouble in modern America, but just for perspective please consider the following passage by Timothy Egan:

Reading is far from dead. This year, about 400 million books will be sold in the United States. Overall, business is up 1 percent--not bad, in a rough economy, for a $15 billion industry. Last year, a survey for the Associated Press found that a much smaller number--27 percent--had not read a book lately, which means nearly three-in-four have read a book. Steve Jobs may be many things (maestro, visionary, demi-god), but he apparently isn't a careful reader of certain market reports.
The more compelling statistic was rarely mentioned in news accounts of the A.P. story: the survey found that another 27 percent of Americans had read 15 or more books a year. That report documents a national celebration.
Most companies would kill for a market like that--more than one-fourth of the world's biggest consumer market buying 15 or more of its items a year. And half the population bought nearly 6 books a year. If only Apple were so lucky. The latest Harry Potter book sold 9 million copies in its first 24 hours--in English. The DaVinci Code, a story of ideas even with its wooden characters and absurd plotting, has sold more than 60 million copies.
By contrast, Apple reported selling a piddling 3.7 million of the much-hyped iPhones through 2007.

I know a lot of you still aren't convinced and yes the world is changing today. But I'm still a cultural optimist for the most part; come back to this blog soon to hear more about why.

Tyler

View more information on Discover Your Inner Economist