Why some people become lifelong readers?

Posted on by Live & Learn

 

The Stats:

  • ...about 53 percent of American adults (roughly 125 million people) read at least one book not for school or for work in the previous 12 months
  • …23 percent of American adults were “light” readers (finishing one to five titles per year)
  • ..10 percent were “moderate” (six to 11 titles),
  • …13 percent were “frequent” (12 to 49 titles),
  • …and a dedicated 5 percent were “avid” (50 books and up)
  • …about 20 percent of adults belong to the U.S.’s reading class. She said that a larger proportion of the American population qualified as big readers between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries—an era of reading that was made possible by advances in printing technology and then, eventually, snuffed out by television.
  • …”urban people read more than rural people,” “affluence is associated with reading,” and “young girls read earlier” than boys do and “continue to read more in adulthood.”
  • “Introverts seem to be a little bit more likely to do a lot of leisure-time reading,”
  • …”children who grew up surrounded by books tend to attain higher levels of education and to be better readers than those who didn’t, even after controlling for their parents’ education.

As Willingham explains in his book Raising Kids Who Read, three variables have a lot of influence over whether someone becomes a lifelong reader – – read on here.

—  Joe Pinsker, from “Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers” (The Atlantic, Sept 19, 2019)

Photo: Pexels by Maël BALLAND

21 thoughts on “Why some people become lifelong readers?”

  2. great advice. many boys in my school said they’ve never seen their dad, just sit down and read something ,unless it was a manual or they had to learn something

      1. yes, it has a huge impact on the school, and we were talking to the upper el and middle school boys about why a lot of them don’t enjoy reading as a hobby. really made sense, we have to model things we hope that they will try

  5. I’m feel like the luckiest kid b/c I had a Mom who read to me; some of my earliest memories are reading with her, tucked up with her, cozy. Trips to the library at 5, filling up my bookbag and taking home “friends.” The Bookmobile and Book Fairs were exciting times for me! I’m in the 5%, read daily, and it remains a favorite way to enjoy free time ~ January was cold and bitter, I read 7 books 🙂 I’m a rural girl and so was she; so grateful for the gift of a wonderful, well-read Mother! -MJ

  6. throughout my life, reading is my jam. Books piled up by my bed) hoping they’re next) are my peanut butter – you can’t have one without the other. And you can never have enough. 😍

  7. reading is the jam to my peanut butter. Always have two sometimes 3 on the go and a pile waiting in a basket by the bed – ‘cause ya’ can’t have one without the other.

  8. I was an early reader growing up with my mother’s and grandparents’ big libraries, became a professional reader and now I read for fun about 6 books per month. I can’t imagine not to read, it’s just my socialisation. And I feel cosy surrounded by books. I like to read loud to my wife Dina who is an avid reader as well. Books were read to both of us every night when we were children. This still is a tradition in Norway, Germany and Sweden where we were brought up.
    Happy reading
    Klausbernd 🙂

      1. I was an author who invested his royalties in two hight street bookshops and I taught linguistics and modern literature at the McGill University/Montreal. I worked as an editor as well. Well, books were my life and they are still.

  9. I hated reading as a child, until I picked up Harry Potter. Now I can’t imagine what my life would be like without books. It’s so interesting because they offer us a glimpse into separate little worlds, but in some way they also make our own world so much richer.

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