In (approx.) 100 years, will...

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

One thing we should consider is how any work of literature will be consumed. I wanted to start a thread called: The Semi-Ugly Truth: Ebooks vs. Audio Books. There is a disturbing trend in libraries that offer more audio editions of a book than ebook versions.

It's not a disturbing trend if you are visually impaired.

Those who like to read words on a page are relegated to borrowing pbooks.

There are a couple of good reasons for this. The first is that e-books and p-books overlap in a way that audiobooks and books you read yourself don't. The second is that most libraries have accumulated audiobooks over the past 25 years or so (longer if you include books on tape); most libraries have only been accumulating e-books for the past 5 years or so. I would suspect that the rate at which the library is acquiring e-books is greater than the rate at which they are acquiring audiobooks, even if the absolute numbers don't match yet.

We are becoming the minority. The educational standards in the states are going to pot. Young people spend more time watching TV and playing games than reading. Their ability to read quickly is diminishing, and their vocabulary and spelling are juvenile.

This was as true in 1965 as it is today, though.

A well-educated person should be able to read at least 10,000 books in a lifetime.

As others have pointed out, this is a ridiculous number.

Also, reading a lot doesn't make you educated. That depends entirely on what you read. For most people, myself included, reading is primarily a leisure time activity; it is not inherently better than watching TV or listening to music.

These future generations may barely reach the same level of literacy as their predecessors. Books will be spoon fed to them in audio or audio-visual mediums, very likely on a mobile device. The device could even be modeled after Google glasses. Boys and girls who have trouble reading long sentences may have their books colorized, to highlight keywords. Lol. Now, the decline in reading may not even be related to literacy.

This is a kind of strange claim, since I'm pretty sure that the amount of reading young people have done since the Internet became widespread has increased significantly. You can decry texting and social media - but in the 80's and before we didn't pen long letters to keep up with our social circle; we just talked on the phone.

Shifts in future occupations may be focused on technology, where expertise in a programming language is more important than knowledge of a social language. This is a world where Java or C++ are the lingua franca, not English or Chinese.

??? This makes no sense. Java isn't an actual language; you can't go to a bakery and order a dozen muffins in Java.

[QuantumIguana]

From "Reading on the Rise", a study by the National Endowment for the Arts. http://www.nea.gov/research/readingonrise.pdf

Reading on the Rise, the National Endowment for the Arts’ new
report, documents a significant turning point in recent American cultural
history. For the first time in over a quarter-century, our survey shows After decades of declining trends, there has been a decisive and unambiguous increase
among virtually every group measured in this comprehensive national
survey.

[Fat Abe]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

10000 BOOKS

As others have pointed out, this is a ridiculous number.

I don't believe this is an unreasonable number. Assume a person in good health can live until he is 85 years of age. Starting at around 3, the person can read Jack and Jill, Curious George, Thomas the train series, etc. Later he or she moves to the Roald Dahl children's books, J.K. Rowling, and so on. There are hundreds, even thousands of books in these two categories. Keep the kids away from the television, and you'll be surprised at the number of books they can finish in a day.

Harry T. appears to be a member who is approaching or exceeding the 10K barrier. I am also pretty close to this number. Anyone who has downloaded and read the books that are held in the MR repository, can easily build a library of thousands of books. Once a person retires, there is no reason why a man or woman could not read a book a day. In twenty years, they could finish over 7000 books.

[BeccaPrice]

I read a lot. I read fairly quickly. I read about 250 books last year; this year so far I'm pushing having read 50. But I've also got a life, and the past few years have been anomalies. I certainly didn't read this many books when my kids were little. Yes, I read to them a lot, but I don't think a 40yo woman should count 87 thousand re-readings of Goodnight Moon on her life-time reading list.

[fjtorres]

I've been reading my whole life.
My collection of read titles runs around 3,000 volumes with another 2,000 on the TBR list I do expect to get to 10,000 but that's because I expect to live another 100 years.

That said, if you include comics and weekly magazines, I have already exceeded 10,000.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

But if anyone wants to know why Hitler and Hirohito were destroyed in WW 2, the answer is that America managed to stay "one" nation after the Civil War, despite our many disagreements, which persist to this day.

The way I've seen it best summarized is that the proper grammatical usage before the war was "The United States are" and afterwards, "The United States is". It established the "one nation, indivisible" part of the pledge of allegiance.

The second best way is that the civil war was, in many ways, the first modern war. Logistics, industrial capacity, manuever warfare, and technology were all determining factors in the outcome. It presaged what 20th century wars would be like.

Foote (and Burns) manage to drive both points through with crystal clarity while humanizing the conflict at ground level rather than just by listing dates and battles. Very readable. (And watchable. I think the series is on Netflix.)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

(And watchable. I think the series is on Netflix.)

• The Civil War - Ken Burns (9 episodes)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Harry T. appears to be a member who is approaching or exceeding the 10K barrier.

Nowhere near. Not even close. Last year I read 76 books.

There's all the difference in the world between reading a "Jack and Jill" book and reading, say, Dickens or Austen. Surely quality counts for at least as much as quantity?

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

I don't believe this is an unreasonable number. Assume a person in good health can live until he is 85 years of age. Starting at around 3, the person can read Jack and Jill, Curious George, Thomas the train series, etc. Later he or she moves to the Roald Dahl children's books, J.K. Rowling, and so on. There are hundreds, even thousands of books in these two categories. Keep the kids away from the television, and you'll be surprised at the number of books they can finish in a day.

Quite so. When I was 10 or so I went through two or three books a day. The local library staff knew me by name

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Harry T. appears to be a member who is approaching or exceeding the 10K barrier. I am also pretty close to this number. Anyone who has downloaded and read the books that are held in the MR repository, can easily build a library of thousands of books. Once a person retires, there is no reason why a man or woman could not read a book a day. In twenty years, they could finish over 7000 books.

I do that now. This year I am keeping score for the first time, and I am at my 72nd book for the year. Assuming that this year is typical (and I don't have the feeling that I'm reading more than I used to), that's about a book a day.

Being 48 now, I've been keeping that up for more than 40 years. So although I can't be sure when exactly, I must have passed 10.000 books years ago.

[Yolina]

I seem to read about 200 a year so the 10,000 over a lifetime doesn't seem particularly excessive, though I don't think it should be touted as some kind of target. I read because I enjoy it

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Quite so. When I was 10 or so I went through two or three books a day. The local library staff knew me by name

Fairly similar here too... For my 8th birthday my parents bought me a Jules Verne set, read all 23 volumes in about 2 weeks - they got me a library card after that and luckily said library was only about 300 yards from home

[piperclassique]

I have never kept score. I do know that in the UK, where I mostly lived until 1991 I had a library card at age five. When I was ten years old my parents were so tired of me borrowing their cards to access books not available on my card, they lobbied for me to have a card of my own for the adult's library. I usually had three books out at any given moment, and went to change them once a week. I never even imagined the possibility of ebooks in 1966....
When I left the UK the lack of books in english at realistic prices led me to Gutenberg, and to returning from visits to family in UK with bootloads of books from Oxfam etc. I will read in french, but only if that is the language in which the author wrote.

Now I am so glad to have a lifetime supply of reading on kindle, a great deal of it free, and no need to build more bookshelves or catch a bus to the library. In any case, the nearest library which owns more books than I do is 65 km away, and I would have to drive there

I still have many paper books but probably now more ebooks. I sometimes read books from my original Gutenberg DVD, the first one, 10,000 books, which I copied and sent all over the world. Can you imagine what it must mean to live in a third world country with poor or no internet access and to be able to get that DVD for nothing, just by asking for it? It is sad that Michael Hart didn't live long enough to see Project Gutenberg's expansion, he was a man who should have staues erected to him in every library in the world.

Digression over.......enjoy the privilege of being able to read or listen to books every day. Appreciate your good luck, we were born at the right time in the right place., and break down the barriers of ignorance and illiteracy!

for reading this

[QuantumIguana]

No one is saying that 10,000 books in a lifetime is unobtainable. But it isn't something that people should be expected to do. People do need to go for a walk sometime. Even reading can be done to excess.

[Jozawun]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

No one is saying that 10,000 books in a lifetime is unobtainable. But it isn't something that people should be expected to do. People do need to go for a walk sometime. Even reading can be done to excess.

That's what audiobooks are for.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Also, reading a lot doesn't make you educated. That depends entirely on what you read.

And how you read. And what you comprehend, and retain, and how you think about afterward.

For most people, myself included, reading is primarily a leisure time activity; it is not inherently better than watching TV or listening to music.

Indeed. Superiority complex among some readers notwithstanding.

There was an interesting line in "Wicked" (which I just finished listening to on audiobook during my commute this morning) that compared sorcery to literacy:

"It’s a practical skill, like—like reading and writing. It’s not that you can, it’s what you read or write. Or, if you’ll excuse the play on words,what you spell.”

??? This makes no sense. Java isn't an actual language; you can't go to a bakery and order a dozen muffins in Java.

I think that was his point. It is frustrating for me to try to learn from talented coders who can't put two English words together in a coherent sentence. Sure, it's nice when the code speaks for itself, but it doesn't always.

ApK

[crich70]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

No reason you should have.
He was (a novelist and) a historian who wrote a massive three-volume History of the American Civil War. Foote was also very telegenic and became a celebrity through being featured in KEN BURN'S THE CIVIL WAR Documentary series.
To a lot of people, the Civil War is what Burns and Foote say it was.

Give it a thousand years and he might end up as the Herodotus of our times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Foote

All 3 volumes are apparently out in Kindle format. Just look for Shelby Foote at Amazon.