TIME to Read
[Sweet Bloody Mary, that title was terrible. I appologize.]
So, I was reading TIME maganize yesterday, and I came across the following tidbit:
“25%: Percentege of U.S. adults who did not read any books in the past year.
4: The number of books the average person said they read.
5: number of books the average American claimed to have started reading in 2005.
10: “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 1999.”
Lets see how I stack up. As I recounted to Lauren a few weeks ago, I’ve read nearly 300 books in my nearly 18 years of life. That averages out to be 16 2/3 books a year. However, this total does not include books that I read as a small child (mostly books I read before I entered Middle School. Ergo, the average would be more along the lines of 37.5 books a year (300/8, for every year since I left elementary school.). This number looks much too high. Taking into account reference books and the like, I probably read 20 to 25 books a year. It’s taken me the past 2 months to read almost 6 books (nearly done with The Confusion by Neal Stephenson, ’tis a beast). Anyway, that’s how I compare to the national average.
Oh, the United States is the most heavily armed country in the world, with 90 guns per 100 people (Numbers include civillian weapons only). The second most heavily armed is India, with 4 guns per 100 people. That’s quite a discrepency between #1 and #2, eh? No wonder the World thinks we’re a bunch of hillbilly gun-nuts.
Source: “Numbers.” Time Magazine. September 10, 2007.