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VictoriaP · 11-23-2013, 02:37 AM

I've actually read far less than in the last two years than typically, but I'll still be over 100 books this year. The first year I had a Kindle, I was at over 300. And I suppose you could say it was on another's dime, because it was the first year I was disabled--the Kindle was a gift from my husband, because I could no longer handle paper books.

But I have always been a ridiculously fast and heavy reader even during school or my work career, averaging 100 pages an hour in paperback or hardcover. One summer when I was young, I stayed with an aunt for six weeks & had access to my cousin's scifi & horror collection. According to my journal during that time, I read 10,000+ pages during that six weeks (and drove my aunt nuts, she thought I should be out with friends more. I was in heaven, who needed to go out?! LOL) Even twenty years later, if I have a free day and feel like reading, three genre books in a day isn't unusual. I don't watch TV & don't do movies; that time goes to books instead.

But I don't see myself as average in this respect. Obsessive is probably more accurate.

Still, most of my friends are reasonably frequent readers, and paper or digital, they'd still fit comfortably into the 61+ a year category. And none of them can read on the job--they carve out time whenever they can, the same as you do for any other hobby.

Out of curiosity, I asked hubby--who is a reader, but not a "heavy" reader in his opinion, how many he thought he'd read this year. He said ten. Then he started actually counting...and found to his surprise that he was up over 40 just in e-books. Add in half a dozen audiobooks, and an unknown number of dead trees. (Unlike me, he also watches TV, movies, and yes, works full time. He's never timed his reading, but he thinks he's probably average or not much above.)

I don't doubt the numbers seen here. There's nothing scientific or statistically significant about an Internet poll on a forum; you've got a targeted group who's self selected both to participate in the forum itself and actually interested enough to respond to the poll. A group of people, who are passionate enough about e-books and their platforms/devices to be active on a forum about digital reading, is quite likely to be overbalanced in favor of heavy readers.

11-23-2013, 02:37 AM	#133
VictoriaP Addict Posts: 298 Karma: 491576 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle PW2; Kindle Touch; Kindle 2; iPad Mini; iPad1	I've actually read far less than in the last two years than typically, but I'll still be over 100 books this year. The first year I had a Kindle, I was at over 300. And I suppose you could say it was on another's dime, because it was the first year I was disabled--the Kindle was a gift from my husband, because I could no longer handle paper books. But I have always been a ridiculously fast and heavy reader even during school or my work career, averaging 100 pages an hour in paperback or hardcover. One summer when I was young, I stayed with an aunt for six weeks & had access to my cousin's scifi & horror collection. According to my journal during that time, I read 10,000+ pages during that six weeks (and drove my aunt nuts, she thought I should be out with friends more. I was in heaven, who needed to go out?! LOL) Even twenty years later, if I have a free day and feel like reading, three genre books in a day isn't unusual. I don't watch TV & don't do movies; that time goes to books instead. But I don't see myself as average in this respect. Obsessive is probably more accurate. Still, most of my friends are reasonably frequent readers, and paper or digital, they'd still fit comfortably into the 61+ a year category. And none of them can read on the job--they carve out time whenever they can, the same as you do for any other hobby. Out of curiosity, I asked hubby--who is a reader, but not a "heavy" reader in his opinion, how many he thought he'd read this year. He said ten. Then he started actually counting...and found to his surprise that he was up over 40 just in e-books. Add in half a dozen audiobooks, and an unknown number of dead trees. (Unlike me, he also watches TV, movies, and yes, works full time. He's never timed his reading, but he thinks he's probably average or not much above.) I don't doubt the numbers seen here. There's nothing scientific or statistically significant about an Internet poll on a forum; you've got a targeted group who's self selected both to participate in the forum itself and actually interested enough to respond to the poll. A group of people, who are passionate enough about e-books and their platforms/devices to be active on a forum about digital reading, is quite likely to be overbalanced in favor of heavy readers.