Freedom Not to Read

It was all very well for U.S. librarians and publishers to worry about the freedom to read (see above). But does the average U.S. citizen make much use of the freedom he already has? To Pollster George Gallup, the answer is no. Among the facts & figures he has culled from recent polls:

P:"Despite the fact that we have the highest level of formal education in the world, fewer people buy and read books in this nation than in any other modern democracy." The average Briton, for instance, reads three times as many books as the average American.

P:While the U.S. can boast some 1,450 bookstores and 7,500 public libraries for its 150 million people, some European countries do far better. Denmark, with only 4.000.000 people, has 700 bookstores; and Sweden (7,000,000) has 6,500 libraries.

P:After polling a sampling of college graduates. Gallup found that only one in six had done any serious reading in the previous few months, and that only one in two could name a single recent title he really wanted to read. As for the classics, most of the group merely shrugged. Out of every 20 graduates, only eight could name the author of Vanity Fair, only one knew who wrote Tom Jones.

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