Most Well-Read Cities in America

[Prestidigitweeze]

The problem is that Amazon equates sales with literacy, whereas the opposite might well be true:

The best-read people (whatever that means) might get the heft of their grist from -- need I spell it? -- specialty ebook sites, Overdrive's service, and repositories of superior craftspersonship like the Patricia Clark Memorial Library at Ye Olde Mobile Read.

Then, too, many literate people I know are already drowning in stacks of backlog and are unlikely to be piling on more.

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Then, too, many literate people I know are already drowning in stacks of backlog and are unlikely to be piling on more.

That hasn't stopped me!

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

That hasn't stopped me!

But has it slowed you down?

I am gradually exercising more restraint (or maybe less abandon).

[93terp]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon's 3rd Annual Most Well-Read Cities in America - 2013

1. Alexandria, VA
   

I know I helped my home city win this one!!!

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

But has it slowed you down?

I am gradually exercising more restraint (or maybe less abandon).

Yeah, I don't reflexively snatch up freebies the way I used to.

[crich70]

I noticed that IL and WI are both absent from the lists. OH and other nearby states have listings but not IL or WI. Some of us do read though. lol.

[Fat Abe]

The Amazon survey contradicts the findings of another website:

http://www.davidmixner.com/2013/02/w...te-people.html

Newspaper circulation, education level and number of bookstores as a function of population would seem to be better indicators of literacy. I would certainly put Washington, D.C. above Miami, FL, in any comparison. Any survey that is missing Minnesota, and Minneapolis, in particular, is highly suspect. Minnesota ranks #1 in the U.S. with the highest average SAT score (1778). Think about that when deciding where to live, or raise a child.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

The Amazon survey contradicts the findings of another website:

http://www.davidmixner.com/2013/02/w...te-people.html

Newspaper circulation, education level and number of bookstores as a function of population would seem to be better indicators of literacy. I would certainly put Washington, D.C. above Miami, FL, in any comparison. Any survey that is missing Minnesota, and Minneapolis, in particular, is highly suspect. Minnesota ranks #1 in the U.S. with the highest average SAT score (1778). Think about that when deciding where to live, or raise a child.

They know how to read in Washington D.C.? We're doomed. Seriously sometimes I wonder how literate our government leaders really are with how big a mess things are in. But that's a topic for another forum.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon's 3rd Annual Most Well-Read Cities in America - 2013

1. Alexandria, VA
2. Knoxville, TN
3. Miami, FL
4. Cambridge, MA
5. Orlando, FL
6. Ann Arbor, MI
7. Berkeley, CA
8. Cincinnati, OH
9. Columbia, SC
10. Pittsburgh, PA
11. St. Louis, MO
12. Salt Lake City, UT
13. Seattle, WA
14. Vancouver, WA
15. Gainesville, FL
16. Atlanta, GA
17. Dayton, OH
18. Richmond, VA
19. Clearwater, FL
20. Tallahassee, FL

Previous Years

• Most Well-Read Cities in America - 2013
• Most Well-Read Cities in America - 2012
• Most Well-Read Cities in America - 2011

Florida is the most represented state in the list. I suspect much of that traffic comes from tourists buying books for the inevitable 'downtime' of tourism and thereby 'stealing' sales from their home cities to the benefit of the host city.

I wonder if Floridians need to 'spruce up' some of their attractions? What tourist destination wants to be known as a great place to get some reading done?

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Florida is the most represented state in the list. I suspect much of that traffic comes from tourists buying books for the inevitable 'downtime' of tourism and thereby 'stealing' sales from their home cities to the benefit of the host city.

This depends on the methodology that Amazon uses. Is the purchase location based on the home address of the Amazon customer, or is it determined by the IP address used when initiating the transaction? The second method may vary much more than the first method.