Dan Poynter collects many statistics related to the publishing industry, from a myriad of sources. I don't have any sense of the relative credibility of each of these pictures — some appear anaecdotal, others based on reliable sampling methods. They make for fascinating reading in any event.
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
(via Kottke)
Update: Ross sez, "I saw this list on PZ Meyers's blog Pharyngula a few months back and he basically retracted it."
Update 2: Wired Magazine editor and author of The Long Tail Chris Anderson sez, "I was surprised by those book stats too, and dug around. This NEA report
seems to have done the most reliable surveys and suggest that while book
reading is in decline it's not as bad as the numbers in your original post."
