In its look at the adoption of electronic book formats, Pew Research stumbled onto an interesting data point. The most likely person to read
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In its look at the adoption of electronic book formats, Pew Research stumbled onto an interesting data point. The most likely person to read a book — in any format — is a black woman who's been to college.
Slate's Jacob Weisberg spotted the data point buried in Pew's report, "E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps." When asked Pew asked people if they'd read a book over the past year, there were clear demographic differences in the responses.
Not all of the distinctions are statistically significant here, meaning that since Pew is looking at smaller and smaller subsets of its data, small percentage differences can misrepresent reality. But some distinctions are clear and significant:
-Women read more books than men.
-Black and white people read more books than Hispanics. (The difference between black and white readers isn't large enough to be statistically significant.)
-People who've been to college read more books than those who haven't.
There are other contrasts that the report draws: people who make $50,000 or more a year are more likely to read books, as are young people, in some circumstances.
Nor is it the case that ebooks are rapidly gaining on traditional paperbacks. More Americans own tablets or ereaders (like a Kindle), but still 69 percent of Americans are reading traditional book-books. Only 28 percent of Americans read an ebook last year. That 69 percent figure is actually up slightly over 2012, when only 65 percent of Americans did so.
That distinction doesn't vary much by demographic group. Young people are more likely to read ebooks than older people, but they're also generally more likely to read paper books, too. Black people read more of every type of book, though it's statistically close. Ebooks are more likely to be read by people in cities or suburbs than in rural areas.
In today's society, Black women remain all too invisible in plain sight.
The statistics from this 2014 article still rings true. More books across the board are being read by Black women, that exact group those many, many stories that forsake diversity tend to shun completely or box into a supporting act, often some flat variation of a sassy, angry, romance-less typecast. Negative bonus points if our story begins and ends in tragedy!
Fun fact for today! Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Today is the birthday of Ida B. Wells.
Born on July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Ida B. Wells was a journalist, author, suffragist, Black feminist, and much more.
Read more about Ida B. Wells-Barnett >>
Let's support Black women's voices, their stories, and the works that include Black women with respectable, full-faceted and beautiful representation!
Here are some related posts from WWC to inspire you:
Black girls and women: Representation that we want
Black sexuality representation we want to see
Top favorite books from Black authors and/or Black MCs (2025)
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