Books In A Life

[poliphilo]

How many books can you read in a single lifetime? Christopher Howse (writing in the Telegraph) has been doing some calculations. If you reckon on a book a week (which seems reasonable) a person who lives to be 80 wil achieve a total of 4160. It's not many, is it?

All I can say is, choose well. 

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I tend to read two books a week these days so i guess i don't have to choose too wisely

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's good going.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Must be slow readers.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think you need to make allowance for all the times when you weren't reading much- and I guess even the most eager readers among us take a rest from books every now and then.

[redatt.livejournal.com]

Yes, I go through voracious book reading periods and then periods when I can't imagine wanting to ever pick up another book.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'm a very slow reader, and I have to read a lot for work - so I probably only get to read about a dozen books a year of my own choice. My wall is pocked with the dents where I've flung the unworthy for wasting my precious time.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe I've speeded up. I seem to get through books a lot faster than I used to do.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

When I was a bookish child I could read two or three books in a day in the school holidays... I must have been getting close to the 4,160 before I left school.

I've slowed down considerably now though. I usually have four or five on the go at once, and finish maybe two a week.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

At this stage of my life I'm probably getting through a couple of books a week, but I've not always had such application.

If I have two books on the go at once it's a sure sign that I'm finding the one I started first a bit of a bore.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

I reckon on one a month, though it's quicker when they are shorter or lighter reading. I stopped trying to read books in parallel after it took me three years to finish Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Life here at my mother's involves a lot of sitting around so I'm reading a lot. I reckon I get through a couple of books a week.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

In high school, I kept a log, and was reading over 400 books a year.

Today, it's more like 2-3 a week.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd logged my reading. It would be fascinating to look back on.