XPost: rec.arts.sf.fandom   
   From: wthyde1953@gmail.com   
      
   Scott Lurndal wrote:   
   > Paul S Person  writes:   
   >> On Sat, 24 Jan 2026 07:33:49 -0500, "Evelyn C. Leeper"   
   >>  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On 1/24/26 07:00, Gary McGath wrote:   
   >>>> On 1/23/26 10:34 PM, Jay Morris wrote:   
   >>>>> =A0From a YouGov poll.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> With most Americans reading no books or just a few books, and a=20   
   >>>>> minority reading lots of books, that means that the distribution of=20   
   >>>>> the total books read in the U.S. is very unequal. The 4% of Americans=   
   >> =20   
   >>>>> who say they read 50 or more books alone account for 46% of all books=   
   >> =20   
   >>>>> read. Add in the 6% of Americans who read between 20 and 49 books, =   
   >> and=20   
   >>>>> the 9% who read between 10 and 19 books, and the top 19% of U.S. =   
   >> adult=20   
   >>>>> citizens account for 82% of all books read in 2025.   
   >>>> =20   
   >>>> I'm somewhere in the 10-19 range, but most of the books I read are=20   
   >>>> substantial nonfiction works, so I think that counts for more than=20   
   >>>> people who read a "cozy" novel a week. Currently I'm plowing through=20   
   >>>> _Toscanini: Musician of Conscience_, which is huge.   
   >>>> =20   
   >>> At 944 pages, that is substantial, but (ever the competitor) I will note=   
   >> =20   
   >>> that I'm about a third of the way through the Everyman edition of George=   
   >> =20   
   >>> Orwell's essays, which clocks in at 1416 pages.   
   >>>   
   >>> OTOH, I am also reading a lot of the "Very Short Introduction" series,=20   
   >>> which run about 150 pages each, so I guess it balances out.   
   >>>   
   >>> Last year, I read 106 books, about 60% non-fiction and 40% fiction of=20   
   >>> various sorts (SF, mystery, mainstream). I will note that I am retired=20   
   >>> and am no longer a caregiver, which does give me more time to read than=20   
   >>> many people have.   
   >>   
   >> I haven't counted them, but I am reading mostly eBooks, all fiction. I   
   >> am rereading some non-fiction books, and then there are the   
   >> (non-fiction) magazines, whose primary purpose is to give me something   
   >> to read at the laundromat.   
   >   
   > While most of my reading is on the Kobo reader, I haunt antique stores   
   > regulary and have been picking up a bunch of history and technical books   
   > from the late 19th through the mid 20th century.    One, in particular,   
   > which documents the United States diplomatic history in the four decades   
   > before the first WWI is fascinating, particularly as current world affairs   
   > mirror that history in many respects.   
   >   
   >    _The Diplomacy of the Great War_  by Arthur Bullard. Published in 1917.   
   >   
   >   
   I am currently reading a book on slavery in ancient Greece.  While most   
   of it is as sad as you would expect, I've come across one curious exception.   
      
   Athens had public slaves, owned not by a master but by the city.  A few   
   of these had jobs in finance, and it seems they got very rich.  They had   
   homes, families, and owned slaves of their own.   
      
   We have records showing that some of these public slaves freed their own   
   slaves, but not themselves.  As free men, they'd have had to give up   
   their lucrative positions.   
      
   Rome had public slaves who were comfortably off, and rich ex-slaves, but   
   no rich slaves.   
      
      
   William Hyde   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)