Pew survey: Reading of print books increased in 2013

The Pew survey found that e-reading increased as well but that more adults read a print book in 2013 than in the previous year. 'Print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits,' the report stated.

|
Ted Anthony/AP
A recent Pew survey found that 69 percent of Americans read a print book in 2013, up from 65 percent in 2012.

Good news for bibliophiles: not only have print books pulled through the digital revolution, traditional books remain the bread and butter of Americans’ reading habits.

That’s the conclusion of a recent survey from the Pew Research Center that found more Americans actually read print books in 2013 than in the previous year.

Some 28 percent of adults read an e-book in the past year, up 23 percent from 2012, according to the Pew report. But that didn’t cut into print books: 69 percent of adults read a print book in the past year, up four percentage points from 2012.

“Though e-books are rising in popularity, print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits,” the report concluded. “Most people who read e-books also read print books, and just 4 percent of readers are ‘e-book only.’”

E-readers are continuing to grow in popularity, however, Some 42 percent of adults now own tablet computers, up from 34 percent in September 2013.

That rise may be contributing to an overall growth in reading. Some 76 percent of adults read a book in some format over the previous year, up slightly from the same period in 2012.

How many books does the average American read or listen to? According to the survey, the “typical American adult” read or listened to five books in the past year, and the average for all adults was 12 books.

And when it comes to format, readers have become less discriminating, reading across multiple formats that include print, e-book, and audiobook, with significant overlap.

Some 87 percent of those who read e-books also read a print book and 29 percent additionally listened to an audiobook. By contrast, some 35 percent of print book readers also read an e-book and 17 percent listened to an audiobook.

The findings echo earlier reports that show that while readers may love their e-reading devices, they are increasingly turning to both print and e-books.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Pew survey: Reading of print books increased in 2013
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0117/Pew-survey-Reading-of-print-books-increased-in-2013
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe