# How much do you read? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191 "2009-08-12T16:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/1 "2009-08-12T16:41:29Z")
Pretty simple; how much do you read and what do you read? Also how much do you think it adds to your personality? I read alot, but mostly short term things like newspaper articles, magazine articles and web articles. I suppose I gravitate to news items and somewhat forgettable items like straight dope threads (I just mean they never seem to be relevent to me outside of the dope) I read about 3 - 5 books a year it seems. I wish that number was higher. I enjoy reading documentary books and popular fiction that is critically acclaimed. No fantasy or disposable reading. I feel like I’m not that well read, even though I know good writing when I read it. I don’t seem to add a whole lot to conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/2 "2009-08-12T16:45:02Z")
I don’t read nearly as much in the last five years, 'cause I’ve needed reading glasses and I used to read mostly in bed. So I can’t lie on the pillow and read (I lie on my side). I did find books on tapes, I love them. I use them when I hit the gym and now that I walk to and from the gym, I use them then too. It’s a great way to “read” all those books you’ve been meaning to read but never got around to. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/3 "2009-08-12T16:54:09Z")
It waxes and wanes but I almost always am reading something. Last few months I’ve been hungry so I’ve been going to the library every 2 weeks on the dot, borrowing 7-8 books, mostly reading them all, then going back for more. I don’t know how long this will last. As for what it does for me? Mostly it just entertains me and makes me think. And that’s good enough for me! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/4 "2009-08-12T16:56:09Z")
If allowed to, I would probably read for about seven hours a day. In reality, many days I don’t get to crack open a book at all. But I do it as much as I can. According to my Goodreads list, last year I got through 76 books, plus four I’d read before, and eight audiobooks. I read books mostly (non-fiction and fiction, including young adult books). I don’t generally use precious reading time on newspapers or magazines, unless that’s all that’s available. The audiobooks I listen to as I drive to and from work. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/5 "2009-08-12T16:58:25Z")
I read a lot, but on the book front, I will read around ten a year. Right now most of my days are spent reading political news and law books. I read so much that when I get a headache that prevents me from reading I feel like I have nothing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/6 "2009-08-12T17:02:21Z")
A lot. It’s hard to quantify. I re-read a lot. We’re packing to move right now, and packing the books is making me slightly claustrophobic, because I might need to _read something we’ve already packed!_ Last week I took out from the library and re-read five YA books I’d read when I was about ten, and a Lynn Flewelling fantasy trilogy. Impact on personality? Well, what I talk about is largely books or internet based. Does it improve my personality? I dunno. In what way? I read food writing, theology, some philosophy, a lot of fantasy, some classics. I don’t know how many new books I read a year. It varies a lot, probably between 50-100. I probably read in excess of 200 a year if you count the constant re-reading (I’ve just started re-reading _Gilead_, _Anne of Green Gables_ [I’m reading it aloud to my husband and a friend] and the Detective Chen mystery series). Reading is pretty much like eating or breathing to me. I get twitchy without books. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/7 "2009-08-12T17:09:45Z")
**Lissla** , I discovered the origin of your username just a couple of weeks ago while reading. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/8 "2009-08-12T17:30:05Z")
I read from 10 to 12 hours a day, four to seven books a week. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/9 "2009-08-12T17:35:42Z")
Due to work, commuting, kids’ homework and family time, home projects, and spending quality time with my wife, I have maybe 90 minutes of time a day, maximum, that I could devote to reading. Unfortunately, most of the time I don’t use that time reading. I really enjoy getting involved in a good book- most of what I read _when_ I read is non-fiction- but it’s really hard to find the time consistently. So what happens is one week I’ll read for 3 consecutive days, then because of schedules and other issues it’ll be 1.5 or 2 weeks before I can do it again, so I have to back up and remind myself what was happening, then proceed. It’s the ‘one step back, two steps up’ approach. Whenever I read one of the threads about how the voracious readers express such disdain for people who don’t read, I keep thinking “when do you find the oppurtunity? don’t you have other demands on your time?” ETA: Sigmagirl, for instance- how is that even possible? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/10 "2009-08-12T17:36:42Z")
I read for up to an hour each night when I go to bed. I tend to read novels about realistic human drama, set in different times and places. It’s kind of an escape to different realities of what life could have been like. I don’t know that it adds to my personality; it’s more of a private thing that expands my imagination. And a beautiful turn of phrase is satisfying just on its own as something to reread and savor. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/11 "2009-08-12T17:46:50Z")
I average a book a week. For the past year and a half, as a sort of personal challenge, I’ve read almost nothing but dystopian fiction. When I started, I thought this would wind up feeling very narrow, but it turns out to have led to me several classics I never picked up, incredible authors I would not otherwise have bothered with, and a series or two that were otherwise under my radar. It got me out of a fantasy/sf rut, actually. > **[The Year It Didn't Happen](http://epicdystopia.blogspot.com)** > > A steady diet of dystopian fiction. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/12 "2009-08-12T17:52:39Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Due to work, commuting, kids’ homework and family time, home projects, and spending quality time with my wife, I have maybe 90 minutes of time a day, maximum, that I could devote to reading. Unfortunately, most of the time I don’t use that time reading. I really enjoy getting involved in a good book- most of what I read _when_ I read is non-fiction- but it’s really hard to find the time consistently. So what happens is one week I’ll read for 3 consecutive days, then because of schedules and other issues it’ll be 1.5 or 2 weeks before I can do it again, so I have to back up and remind myself what was happening, then proceed. It’s the ‘one step back, two steps up’ approach. > > Whenever I read one of the threads about how the voracious readers express such disdain for people who don’t read, I keep thinking “when do you find the oppurtunity? don’t you have other demands on your time?” > > ETA: Sigmagirl, for instance- how is that even possible? Oh, it’s possible. I read a couple of books a week, every week. I read on the bus, I read during my lunch, I read 30-60 minutes in bed before I go to sleep. Most of the time, I don’t even have to ignore my two kids to get my reading in…most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/13 "2009-08-12T17:58:21Z")
It’s possible. I read while waiting for manuscripts to download at my job. I read while watching TV. I read at stoplights. I read while cooking and doing laundry. I read in bed. I read while walking the dogs. And I am a very, very fast reader. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/14 "2009-08-12T18:00:30Z")
I subscribe to four magazines (National Review, The New Republic, Vintage Guitar and Fretboard Journal) and read those when they come. I read a couple of news and opinion aggregation sites and SDMB pretty much every day. I read books every night, for at least an hour and sometimes much more, depending on what else is going on. I would guess I average about 4 books per week. On a typical trip to the library, I will borrow a couple of popular fiction books, a non-fiction book on science, music, sports, politics or biography, and some classic piece of literature that is on my list of “books I should have read but haven’t”. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/15 "2009-08-12T18:12:55Z")
I used to average one to three books a week when I was a kid and teen, but I probably read six to ten books a year now. Most of it’s generally genre fiction, though I tend to supplement it with one or two non-fiction books. Being a sci-fi nerd and generalized geek, it constitutes a not-insignificant part of my personality, and media – books, movies, music, etc – was what the friendship with one of my best friends was initially built on. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/16 "2009-08-12T18:17:50Z")
As for books, I read a few pages every night before going to sleep, so I go through them pretty slowly- maybe one or two a month. But I’m constantly reading anything I can get my hands on during the day. Magazines, posters, cereal boxes, the internet, you name it. If it has words, I’ll read it. I crave reading and love it, and I have since age 4. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/17 "2009-08-12T18:18:38Z")
Daily at work: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, [BBC.com](http://BBC.com), Washington Post, [Fark.com](http://Fark.com) headlines, SDMB, health policy updates (various thinktanks, non-profit orgs, etc.), government healthcare updates, media clips, other people’s work (including my boss’s, marketing materials, reports, etc.) Daily at home or on breaks: My “bathroom” book (read while brushing my teeth or putting on makeup in the morning, my “bed” book (read for about a half hour in bed before sleeping; also doubles as my “treadmill” book when I don’t feel like moving fast), my “car” book (read during lunch hour in my car so I can be alone), whatever my son wants me to read to him (at least once a day before bedtime, but I’ll read to him more or less anytime he wants to unless I can’t) Weekly at home: the New Yorker, my own freelance work Monthly at home: Four other magazines (I think I get Real Simple, Women’s Health, Self and will about monthly borrow a copy of my husband’s Economist, but when I get home I’m usually tapped out on business reading) As it becomes available at work: updated legislation As necessary: older legislation to compare against updated legislation and lobby briefs, other people’s summaries of legislation I’d say I spend about 10 hours a day reading. I get paid well for most of it; the reading I do on my own or with my son is well worth the cost of reading material. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/18 "2009-08-12T18:19:13Z")
Elaine: … he reads. Jerry: I read. Elaine: Books Jerry. Jerry: Oh, big deal! That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/19 "2009-08-12T18:21:15Z")
I read approximately the same number of books a week as **Sigmagirl** - between four and seven, depending on the books and the week. This is helped out by the fact that I have a 70 - 75 minute commute everyday via commuter railroad and subway. Plenty of time for reading when I don’t have any other real demands on my time. I also read in bed for a few minutes before I fall asleep, during commercials if my husband doesn’t fast forward them, while hanging out in the living room with my husband while he’s watching something I don’t care enough to follow closely (ball game, UFC, one of the shows he enjoys and I don’t), etc. I read while standing in line for lunch, during downtime while preparing meals, basically anytime I have a spare minute, I break out a book. I am essentially _never_ without a book near at hand. There are books on virtually every flat surface in my home. I also generally have somewhere between two and four books started at any given time. For example, right now I have the book in my purse (along with a backup book in case I finish the first book), the book on my nightstand and the book in my bathroom - all of which I’ve started reading. The ones in my bathroom and on my nightstand tend to be re-reads (I re-read often - I’m always finding something new or different even in old favorites, and I find re-reading an old favorite book immensely comforting) or short-story compilations - better suited to short time period reading. The bathroom book at the moment is a re-read on a mystery novel I’ve read a couple of times and enjoyed and the bedroom book is a short-story compilation featuring several favorite authors. Also, I read somewhere around 200 pages per hour unless what I’m reading is particularly dense. So I tend to chug through most books in a day or two. 200 pages an hour and two and a half hours of commuting via railroad every day runs you through a lot of books in fairly short order. On weekends or vacations, I read even more - on my most recent vacation, I was making it through two or three books a _day_ and still had plenty of time for vacation activities with my husband, parents, brother and niece and nephew. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191/20 "2009-08-12T18:25:19Z")
Who here has been accused of being one of those “book readers” (in a non-ironic, serious and somewhat hostile way)? Show of hands? As if were a _bad_ thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-read/506191.md?page=2)