Subscriber Discussion

Off Topic: How Many Books Do You Read Per Month?

U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 15, 2013

One? Two? Three? More? None

BH
Bohan Huang
Jul 15, 2013

I read IPVM... Does that count? If so make it one!

JH
John Honovich
Jul 15, 2013
IPVM

I rarely read books (and I presume here we mean print / physical books) unless I am studying something that I have no background in. Otherwise, I find online resources to have much more advanced and specific information that I need.

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Ethan Ace
Jul 15, 2013

Are we talking books in relation to the field, or books in general? The former, zero, generally. The latter, 1-3.

SW
Sarit Williams
Jul 15, 2013

When it relates to technology and this field I prefer hands on workshops and think tanks, otherwise autobiography books, certification books and others probably once a month. I find technology books (like C++, xCode) are rather boring and hard to "read".

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Carl Lindgren
Jul 15, 2013

My wife and I are avid readers. We both have Kindles. I read 1-2 books a month and she reads at least 4-5.

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Sean Nelson
Jul 15, 2013
Nelly's Security

When I first got in business, I used to read alot of books to get motvated and learn stuff. Now most of my time is spent working at night on the computer so no more reading. But I do like to read a good book on business here and there. I hate fiction books and would much rather watch a movie :)

Last book I read was Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey. Totally recommend it if you run a business.

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Ari Erenthal
Jul 15, 2013
Chesapeake & Midlantic

I try to read six or eight books a month. Very often I'll read more. I'm an easily bored speed reader with a long commute, what can I say.

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Marty Major
Jul 15, 2013
Teledyne FLIR

I read a lot of everything; fiction, non-fiction, true-crime, biographies, social commentaries, etc..... whatever looks interesting (I love the public library, but I also possess a Nook), and I average at least 3-4 titles a month.

Fiction writers I read: Ridley Pearson, John Sandford, Lee Child, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, with my all-time favorite - Nelson DeMille (he writes like 700 page big fat books) :)

Opposite of Sean, for fiction, I would almost always choose a book over the same movie if given a choice between the two. Almost all movie versions of books I've read previously have sucked in comparison. And most leadership/positive thinking/motivational non-fiction just annoys me.

Note to Sean: I am a Dave Ramsey fan too! :)

JH
John Honovich
Jul 15, 2013
IPVM

You and Ari are abnormal, and I have statistics (above) to prove it!

JM
John Minster
Jul 16, 2013
IPVMU Certified

John,

Define "normal"

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Ethan Ace
Jul 15, 2013

I'd probably be averaging more, but it's summer, so when I'm not working, I'm doing active outsidey things. I probably average 4-5 in the winter months.

But yeah, still abnormal.

CP
Carlton Purvis
Jul 15, 2013

Yeah four or five seems like a lot. I read 1-2 a month an I feel like I'm a pretty fast reader. And like Marty, it's a pretty wide mix of fiction/non-fiction. I've been reading a lot of short stories lately. Recently finished a Lovecraft anthology and The Martian Chronicles.

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Brian Rhodes
Jul 15, 2013
IPVMU Certified

I have four year old kid who 'reads' more books on a daily basis that y'all do in a month. The library allows a maximum of 30 books to be checked out at a time; he regularly pegs that out. His knowledge on Monster Trucks cannot be topped.

I'm not bragging, I'm genuinely afraid he may never 'learn' social norms. I frequently tell him to put down the books and go outside. He just stares in silent disgust. ...and then reads books outside.

The velocity of learning on the internet ruined me on books. I can learn something from the web very quickly, with nearly complete context and firsthand experience, rather than spend hours waiting for an author, in love with the sound of his own writing, to explain something over thirty pages.

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Marty Major
Jul 15, 2013
Teledyne FLIR

I'm curious if others reading habits have changed over the years, and if so, how...?

For instance, for as long as I can remember I've always read a lot. I remember getting my 'Weekly Reader' books that we could buy for like 50, 75 cents apiece in elementary school the same way my parents used to reminisce about paying a nickel (or whatever) and going to the 'picture shows' on the weekend.... it was an escape from boredom, mainly.

Back in the day before the internet & cable TV, we only had sticks, rocks and dirt to play with, so if we couldn't field at least 4 dudes to play home run derby down at the little league diamond, books was it. (well, throwing stuff at cars was a pretty big thing too) :)

Reading used to be the primary way to stimulate the brain when I was young... now, kids have such an array of different (and repetitive) stimuli, I can't imagine many kids read that much if it's not mandated.

JH
John Honovich
Jul 15, 2013
IPVM

If I was a kid again, I would still read a lot of books. When I was a kid, I must have easily read 10 books a month. I had a year long phase where I read 200+ pages a day, every day, while taking independent study courses in philosophy and politics.

For me, books are clearly better for learning fundamentals - knowledge that is old and vetted. It's highly polished, both in terms of structure and language. The Internet cannot match that for most things.

On the other hand, the Internet is far better on topics that are changing or are very advanced. At this stage of my life/career, that's my focus.

I have never read for 'fun' so I can't comment on that aspect!

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Brian Rhodes
Jul 15, 2013
IPVMU Certified

I tore these up as a youth:

Now as an adult, I find many of my favorite books as a kid have been turned into movies. I'm part of that crowd that refuses to see them on principle and because it's en vogue to hate movies. However, I think movies are responsible for whatever popular uptake of literature is out there. The YouTube generation, right?

The folks at my local library treat the children patrons like royalty, apparently because they are rare.

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Marty Major
Jul 15, 2013
Teledyne FLIR

I had a particular fondness for this series as a kid:

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Carl Lindgren
Jul 15, 2013

Marty,

My reading predates yours. Besides Science Fiction like Heinlein's Space Cadet, I grew up on these:


And my all-time favorite (read at least 100 times):


AL
Andy Lee
Jul 15, 2013
IPVMU Certified

I just found and re-read "The Stars my Destination" probably 25 years after I last read it. I have to say it didn't hold up to my memory of it. On the other hand, "Glory Road" gets better every time.

SW
Sarit Williams
Jul 16, 2013

Minster! Why would you open that Pandora box??

JM
John Minster
Jul 16, 2013
IPVMU Certified

I wasn't really expecting an answer, it was a rhetorical question.

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Jason Glover
Jul 16, 2013

Ethan, first and foremost, graphic novels don't count. Second I would say I'm a 1-2 book a month reader, but if I'm traveling extensively in a month and spending too much time on a plane, I can easily absorb 3-4 a month.

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Ethan Ace
Jul 16, 2013

Next you're going to tell me picture books don't count, either!

SW
Sarit Williams
Jul 16, 2013

haha. In that case People and Glamour are in?

JH
John Honovich
Jul 16, 2013
IPVM

Compared to this Gallup Survey poll, most of you are abnormal. These are results for a full year / 12 months

Only ~30% of people read 1 book or more a month (i.e. 12 or higher per year).

JM
John Minster
Jul 16, 2013
IPVMU Certified

If most of us are abmormal doesn't this then become normal?

I'm surprised that the poll was as high as 30%. With the popularity of the internet book reading has probably dropped off, however reading may have risen given the number of people on the internet. Hypothetical of course I have nothing to back that up.

JH
John Honovich
Jul 16, 2013
IPVM

John, I agree. People spend a lot of time on the Internet reading. Average time online is now more than 3 hours per person, though social networks and email are the top two activities:

JA
J. A. 'Cal' Calcaterra
Jul 21, 2013

I don't. Occasionally did. Those occasions were when there was nothing else to do. On a bunk in the barracks. Foxholes count. On ship etc. Having said that. I do have the Firefox Epub add-on. Went looking for material. Ran across this.

Playboy [braille]

No I haven't. :-) Anyone?

RG
R Gleason
Jul 21, 2013

I subbed out music for audio books a while back. While I understand it's not near the same experience as actually reading, it's helped my brain continue to grow even though I'm so busy as it is. The last books I actually read were 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Blink, and The Tipping Point.

HL
Horace Lasell
Jul 21, 2013

I found this amusing because, as a father of 4 children all under 10 years of age, I read very many books per month. I wonder if Green Eggs and Ham was quite what the survey intended, though?

I read less than 5 adult books per year. I discussed this with my wife who also reads almost no adult books now, yet we both used to read a great deal. For example, when I left the bachelor pad, I cleared out a whole pickup truck load of paperbacks. I also recall my wife was always reading some book or other. Between raising a family, and now with each of us managing our businesses, we no longer have that luxury.

Professionally I remain current with a wide range of technology. Like most IPVM readers, I spend some time reading professional material on the internet. Also, I read about 10 monthluy professional journals and magazines which fill non-internet dead time (usually travel time). Otherwise, the simple answer is, we're well below the median as the question was asked.

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