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While I, too, would be interested in knowing how that figure was derived, I can't say I'm particularly surprised. Nor would I say the figure seems low.
Sometimes, we avid readers tend to over-estimate how common an activity reading books really is. The sad fact is, it's not nearly as popular a pass-time as we would like to believe. pdurrant's post, while (deliberately) simplistic, illustrates this point. There's also plenty of anecdotal evidence.
I am the youngest in a family of seven. Of my five siblings, precisely one enjoys reading, and even she hardly finds the time since she got married a couple of years ago. The end result is that I am now the only member of my family (even if I start including cousins) who reads on a regular basis. And I don't exactly come from a family of illiterates.
100 books in their lifetime? If anything, I say that number is too high. If you take away 'forced' reading (school textbooks, etc.) I'd be surprised if the average person has even read 20.
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