Fair enough, but that wasn’t the question. The OP was looking for the number of books read by Americans. Unfortunately I’m not sure how to weed out the self help/decorating/“choose you own adventure” types out of those numbers.
I wonder if Amazon has any publicly available numbers.
And what about all the old books that poeple read? People often read books they already own or got from other people. I don’t think we can account for this, though.
I estimate that I read about 250 books a year. Then again, someone like my mother might read 1/2 a book per year. She’s not illiterate, it’s just not her cup of tea. And I know a lot of people who are more like my mother than myself in that respect. That’s why I hang out here with you guys. 
Book magazine claims 9 books purchased per American per year.
http://www.bookmagazine.com/issue27/bigreaders.shtml
These folks (who are clearly selling something) claim the average executive reads 1 book annually. So they’re not helping our numbers!
I had a lot of down time of my job of 35 years. I was finishing one book a week during that time. Since I retired two years ago, I have read ONE. 
Don’t quite a few people borrow books from the library instead of buying them?
Hmm, in a quest to really find out how many books people read, I shall assume cover as a librarian and look into their secret database that lists who borrowed what books. Err, something like that, anyway.
Wow, so That’s what those big buildings are for. YOu can read books for FREE and you don’t even need to steal them? 
Actually, the library rarely has the books I’m looking for :dubious: so I find cheap, used books online-sometimes finding them for as low as $1.50 or so, though usually they are higher.
I can average a book every 2 weeks…unfortunately, between two jobs and studying I rarely have the energy (reading makes me sleepy, even if I’m interested ) .
I’ve been getting interested in WWII lately.
Hey, come on. I didn’t say that people are stupid for buying books or anything like that.
All I meant was that if you want to find out how many books are read per person per year, there are more than just sales to consider. Now that I reread my post, I suppose I could have made that clearer.
I measure my annual book consumption in meters.
It’s kind of tough to count, but I’d estimate I read 250-300 books in a year.
Two books a year? The idea makes me sort of cringe. If you could only read two books a year, you’d have to choose carefully…
I probably read about 200 or so books a year; maybe 3/4 of those are from the library. And some are rereads.
You’re not going to get any decent results by averaging reports from us at the SDMB, a self selected group that I suspect runs more literate than most.
Two books a year? I just read four books last week!
Of course, my husband and I don’t have a tv or high-speed internet, and we’re both book addicts. I read extremely quickly and he’s dyslexic and reads slowly, but we both probably read over 100 books a year.
I got 5 books for Christmas. I’ve read them all now, so I had to go out and acquire more to take on vacation. I’ve put them out of sight so I won’t read these too before leave. On vacation, I average a book a day. All types of books – fiction, history, science, almost anything.
I apologize for beign sceptical, but what books are you guys reading?
I’ve always suspected I’m a slow reader, but not inordinately so.
I read at every opportunity. On the train to and from work (30 minutes each way), for about an hour a night at home most nights, and usually for a 2-3 hours per weekend day.
And average about a book every 6 weeks.
I tend to read a lot of non-fiction and literature, so I guess its reletively slower going, I could probably polish off a romance in 90 minutes if I didn’t fall asleep by the second page.
In the last 10 months (since I moved, so its easier) I think I’ve read, in random order:
“Lies My Teacher Told Me” Loewen (318pgs.)
“Boob Jubilee” Frank, Mulcahey, ed. (388pgs.)
“The Culture of Fear” Glassner (210pgs.)
“What Every American Should Know…” Rossi (324pgs.)
“9-11” Chomsky (128pgs.)
“Reefer Madness” Schlosser (221pgs)
“Fast Food Nation” Schlosser (don’t know, gave it away)
“Best Democracy Money Can Buy” Palast (don’t know, gave it away)
“Gangs of New York” Asbury (348pgs.)
“Labyrinths” Borges (249pgs.)
“Warfare in the 18th Century” Black (219pgs.)
“Our Band Could Be Your Life” Azerrad (501pgs.)
“Chronicle of a Death Fortold” Garcia Marquez 143pgs.)
“The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” Sacks (don’t know, gave it away)
“They Came Like Swallows” Maxwell (don’t know, gave it away)
“Soccer Yearbook 2003-04” Goldblatt (518pgs.)
“Jennifer Government” Barry (don’t know, gave it away)
and I’m about 40 pages into
“My Season With Verona” Parks.
so in a 12 month period I should hit 20 or so, but how are you people reading 200+ books a year?
maybe jealousy is a better term than scepticism, but certainly curiosity.
I read mostly science fiction, mysteries, and history. Probably 150 to 300 pp per book. Some of the stuff on your list is on my “to read” list, and I expect that some of it would slow me down a bit, but I think the key for me is that I read very fast, and I spend a lot of time doing it.
Four books a week? I just read six books this morning!
Yeah, I probably average about 20,000 books a year. 23,000, if you count the ones I write. It would be more, but I have a rule. Of any 20 consecutive books I read, there have to be books written in at least 18 different languages. As I’m only fluent in 43 languages, this can be tough. I’m trying to speed things up by reading a Braille book with my left hand and a Braille book with my right hand, while reading a third book with my eyes.
Oh, I just read another book while writing this post. Seven this morning! Yep…
I’m, 17, male, and americian. I read anywhere from 40 to 60 books a year for entertainment plus about 3 a year for school. The books I read range any where from 350 pages (extreme low end) to 1000 pages (extreme high end) though most books I read are about 550 pages. Thanks to my brother loaning me most of his collection I’ll probably top out at 70 books this year.
You’ve got people that read 100 books per year and those that read zero books per year (as well as the odd one that’s read, by now I’m sure, nine this morning 
). What do you think the average number read per year tells you?
I find those figures difficult to believe. A quick look turned up the following, and I’m sure there’s a lot more information available.
From here we get some numbers for the U.S. for 2000:
]
And, more recently:
Houston Chronicle, January 13, 2003
% Share of Income Average
Group Total Taxes Split Point Tax Rate
Top 1% 37.4 >$313,469 27.4%
Top 5% 56.5 >$128,336 24.4%
Top 10% 67.3 >$92,114 22.3%
Top 25% 84.0 >$55,225 19.1%
Top 50% 96.1 >$27,682 16.9%
Bottom 50% 3.9 <$27,682 4.6%
Many days, I read a book in a day. If it’s a busy day or a long book, it might take me up to a week to read a book, but if it’s a lazy Sunday, I might read two or three. So I’d guess I average around 200 books a year, maybe closer to 250. That seems normal to me, but I’m aware that a lot of people don’t read as quickly as I do and it takes them a week or two to read a book, and that’s fine, too.
The only people who confuse me are the ones who go whole weeks without reading anything. What on earth do they do with their time? How do they go to sleep at night, what do they do in the bathtub, or while they’re eating a meal or sitting out by the pool in the summer, or standing in a long line at the Wal-mart? I can’t even imagine not having a book handy to stave off boredom.
Lets see… It’s Jan 10th and I have just finshed my 5th book for this New Year… One could say… I have to much time on my hands…:):smack: