Reading in Italy.
I must be a snob, or maybe I will just come across as one. Hearing the mention of some reading habits in Italy prompted me to look for the complete results of a survey made by the national statistics institute in 2010, and the results shocked me. I can't say they REALLY surprised me, but to see such data written and repeated in different forms, all basically saying the same thing, I was bewildered for a couple of days.
Let me share some data with you.
Despite the internet and the access to information about pretty much everything on there, I still buy books, and I would not want to ever part with the ones I have, I have never thrown away a single book in my life. I have picked up books that others threw away. I don't know if this counts as hoarding, but I think there's always something learn from a book, any book. I knew how to write block letters before starting school because I lived surrounded by books, which made me curious. In primary school I loved looking and foreign language books that we have at home, especially those written in other than Latin letters. So before the age of 10 I could read Cyrillic, and had fun reading German in Gothic script. That is when I also learnt how German is pronounced, even though I didn't actually STUDY the language until the age of 28.
If there is a power outage that makes the internet, the TV, the stereo inaccessible, the books will still be there.
I don't believe that reading habits are linked to income. or education. That excuse is too convenient. My grandparents' families on my mother's side were poor, they had primary school education and lived in a small village. But they were literate and they could access a public "reading room" in their village, where they could read newspapers and literature. Almost every village had one, in this area. My maternal grandmother never left the house without at least one booklet in her handbag.
It shocks me to see that there must be people out there who don't own a single book, yet they have smart phones worth several hundred euros. It's pretty obvious that they didn't buy it to have access to e-books, but exclusively as a status symbol.
I think there are few bigger pleasures in life than reading a book so engrossing that you have to keep reading, and you forget about the time that is passing and don't stop until you've come to the end. An they you feel sad because it is over while you wish you could read some more. It's different from a film, because you can make your own film in your head while reading, it gives you the freedom to imagine freely any scene described, while films offer you one version only.
I could go on and on and on about the benefits of book reading, but I'm going to end here because it's almost dinner time and I must go make pizza dough. :)
ETA: I come from a family of teachers. My father is a retired high school teacher, his parents were both teachers. So we have an abnormal amount of books. I still have I think all the textbooks from my school and university years. I understand I am, in this sense, privileged, because I was not in need and could afford to keep them, rather than sell them.
I hope I have not offended anyone. 3500 books is very abnormal. I guess my real shock is about the 'not a single book' part, everything else is fine. But not a single book sounds surreal, or almost like some kind of sadistic punishment...
Let me share some data with you.
- 46,8% of the population over 6 years old have read at least one book over the previous 12 months, for reasons other than educational or professional. This shows a rise from 45,1% compared to 2009. (Still, more than half of the population has not read any books at al!!!)
- In northern and central Italy the percentage of readers (at least 1 book over the past 12 months) is over 50%, while it's less than 37% in the south.
- 90,1% of the households claim to own books. 62% have no more than 100, 12,2% have 101-200 books but almost one in 10 does not own a single book.
- over the age of 55 less than 50% declare they have read at least one book in 12 months.
- women read more than men, and this gap is widest in the 20-24 age gap. (65% women)
- the regions where there are the most readers happen to be the 3 regions where there is a recognised ethnic/language minority, namely Valle d'Aosta (French), Trentino Alto Adige (German) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Slovene and Friulan) (all 3 over 55%)
- Friuli-Venezia Giulia (the region I live in) has the lowest percentage of household that own no books (3%), while Basilicata has the highest (20,5%). My region is also the one where there is the highest percentage of households with over 100 books (38,9%).
Despite the internet and the access to information about pretty much everything on there, I still buy books, and I would not want to ever part with the ones I have, I have never thrown away a single book in my life. I have picked up books that others threw away. I don't know if this counts as hoarding, but I think there's always something learn from a book, any book. I knew how to write block letters before starting school because I lived surrounded by books, which made me curious. In primary school I loved looking and foreign language books that we have at home, especially those written in other than Latin letters. So before the age of 10 I could read Cyrillic, and had fun reading German in Gothic script. That is when I also learnt how German is pronounced, even though I didn't actually STUDY the language until the age of 28.
If there is a power outage that makes the internet, the TV, the stereo inaccessible, the books will still be there.
I don't believe that reading habits are linked to income. or education. That excuse is too convenient. My grandparents' families on my mother's side were poor, they had primary school education and lived in a small village. But they were literate and they could access a public "reading room" in their village, where they could read newspapers and literature. Almost every village had one, in this area. My maternal grandmother never left the house without at least one booklet in her handbag.
It shocks me to see that there must be people out there who don't own a single book, yet they have smart phones worth several hundred euros. It's pretty obvious that they didn't buy it to have access to e-books, but exclusively as a status symbol.
I think there are few bigger pleasures in life than reading a book so engrossing that you have to keep reading, and you forget about the time that is passing and don't stop until you've come to the end. An they you feel sad because it is over while you wish you could read some more. It's different from a film, because you can make your own film in your head while reading, it gives you the freedom to imagine freely any scene described, while films offer you one version only.
I could go on and on and on about the benefits of book reading, but I'm going to end here because it's almost dinner time and I must go make pizza dough. :)
ETA: I come from a family of teachers. My father is a retired high school teacher, his parents were both teachers. So we have an abnormal amount of books. I still have I think all the textbooks from my school and university years. I understand I am, in this sense, privileged, because I was not in need and could afford to keep them, rather than sell them.
I hope I have not offended anyone. 3500 books is very abnormal. I guess my real shock is about the 'not a single book' part, everything else is fine. But not a single book sounds surreal, or almost like some kind of sadistic punishment...