Poll: Those who never attend church read twice as much.

According to an associated press IPOS survey those who consider themselves liberals read more - but only slightly. The bible and other religious books were the largest category with 2/3rd responding that they read this type of content. Further details from Boston.com:

There was even some political variety evident, with Democrats and liberals typically reading slightly more books than Republicans and conservatives. The Bible and religious works were read by two-thirds in the survey, more than all other categories. Popular fiction, histories, biographies and mysteries were all cited by about half, while one in five read romance novels. Every other genre -- including politics, poetry and classical literature -- were named by fewer than five percent of readers. More women than men read every major category of books except for history and biography. Industry experts said that confirms their observation that men tend to prefer nonfiction.

As the title of this post suggests, the poll also confirmed that organized religion is the enemy of publishers. I’m not sure how this jells with the above noted religion readers, but those who responded that they never attended religious services read twice as much compared with those who attended frequently.

Those likeliest to read religious books included older and married women, lower earners, minorities, lesser educated people, Southerners, rural residents, Republicans and conservatives.

Twenty five percent of the respondents said they had not read a book in the past year. One respondent would rather sit in his pool (evidently not one of the people Kassia vacations with) than read. While the article describes Americans has hardly ravenous readers, I wonder who we are compared with. Personally, I am well on my way to reading 15+ books this year and I am rapidly clearing out my inventory.

(Not sure what Pat Schroeder is on about...)