Poll: How many books have you read so far in your life?

In My Humble Opinion
1

First off, if this is better suited for CS, then it’s fine. I just figured being a poll and all, it would go well here.
Second, I’m defining book as “a book with 100 pages or more”, so that would eliminate any childrens or picture books, I’d think.
So…would it be (for you):
A: Less than 25 books

B: 25 - 100 books

C: 101 - 400 books

D: 401 - 700 books

E: Over 700

This poll is for one reason only. That last night I was looking at the collection of books that I own (all that I’ve read, of course; some of them twice)…and it takes up almost a whole book closet. And I thought that…"Man, there are actually some people in this world who probably hasn’t read more than 3 books in their entire life (My dad and mom would be just a few). How can they do that?! CAN they do that? Is it safe?

So about how many books have you read thus far in your life?

Mine would be, without a doubt, E.

2

Thousands. I have no idea exactly how many.

3

C, I think. I love to read, but I’m picky about what I read, unless it involves ingredients lists, which, for some reason, I like to peruse. Alas, they don’t count as books.

I own less than 100 books right now, since I purged my collection a few moves ago. Hmm. I need to buy more books, especially as I’m looking to get rid of some more books that I have and no longer enjoy.

4

Thousands. Hell, I probably own more than 700, although I’ve never counted.

5

I figure there’d be thousands for a lot here…but I didn’t want the poll to have, like, a million letters. :stuck_out_tongue:

6

i’d say 10s of thousands. i average a book a day. that would be 365 or so per year… x many, many, years.

7

Many, many years ago I was watching “Family Feud” and the question was, “How many books does the average American home have?”

The number one answer of 100 people surveyed was: twenty-five.

25!

In an entire home. Isn’t that just awful?

People owning more than 100 books were the least on the survey.

I’ve read at least 500 books with plus 100-page counts in the last 10 years alone, mostly nonfiction. I’ve read three just in the last three weeks – and I’m not even living at home currently. Throw in all the reading material I’ve consumed in my entire life: newpapers, magazines, professional journals and comics collections – and the number is in the tens of thousands, easily.

8

I’m inclined to say High C. I’ll get into D territory eventually, no doubt, but I haven’t been as active a reader as when I majored in English oh so many years ago.

9

My answer is also E+ - thousands and thousands.

This got me curious. A quick count comes up with 629 books in my place, not counting computer game manuals or the Project Gutenburg stuff I have on my computer.

Idle Thoughts, you want to expand the poll to include book ownership? :slight_smile:

10

I’m in the thousands…I read 3-4 books a week. Sometimes more, if I get into some of them. I own a couple hundred, and it would be more, except I live in an apartment and I have to lvie here, too.

11

High thousands.

12

In the thousands, I’m sure. I own over 1000 (though I haven’t read all of them - some are reference).

13

10 billion. Honestly, I’ve never counted, but if you’re counting books read “for fun” as well as books read for, say, English class, then it’s way, way up there.

No, not really. I stopped buying books (I definitely own less than 70) when I remembered that such a thing as a “library” existed. And there are tons of people who can’t justify to themselves the expense of owning a book. That doesn’t mean they don’t read.

14

E, I guess, but I’m not sure in what range. If it’s over a thousand, it’s probably in the 1 000 to 1 300 range.

I love reading but I sometimes go months at a time without picking up a book.

15

A) I, of course, meant to say fewer than. I’m dumb. Mabee I shud read more so that my English will be gooder.

B) I just counted 42 non-children books on my shelf. I have a few scattered around my house, but probably not many.

16

In the thousands for me as well. I read more before I got married, but I still average at least 1 a week. It used to be more like 2 to 3 a week.

17

Another E++ here. Somewhere in the 2,000-3,000 range, I’ll wager.

18

I’m probably D (400-700) but I may be at the high end of C (101-400). This year I’ve started keeping a list of all the books I’ve ever read. I tried including everything I remember from past years but I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. This year I’ve read about 35-40 books. That still more than I normally read in a year, even though I hardly read anything until May. I’m only 21 so someday it will be in the thousands, hopefully. Lately I seem to be in a reading slump.

19

E all the way and even more than usual these days.

I work in a second-hand bookstore and some days you’re going through the stock and it’s like ‘Hmm…might take a look at that. Oh, gonna take that one home, Oohhooooohhhh! I’m buying that one! Put it to one side! Mine!’ Somehow I do actually end up reading them all. But because I’m picky about what I’m willing to re-read, in terms of enjoyment, I only own between 300-400, I think. But they’re a damn good 300-400! Plus maybe 20-30 Reference books like dictionaries, grammar things , specialist references etc…

So yeah. E. Totally.

20

At a minimum, I’ve read over a thousand books. That’s assuming 1 book a week since I was five. I think one a week is way too low as I read most books in 2 - 3 days, but I also re-read a lot of my books over and over, and I think we’re counting individual books that we’ve read, not multiple readings of a single book.

I wonder if I can use Amazon’s rating service to try to work out how many individual books I’ve read… hmm, that might be interesting.