For people who can't read good...
It annoys me enough when I can't, or don't, finish a video game. It drives me absolutely crazy when I'm unable to get to the last page of a book. My personal prime example: I just couldn't face up to the mental challenge of completing Umberto Eco's In the Name of the Rose.
Anyway, it turns out that the British also struggle to finish books, and apart from the chavs, they appear to be far more of a bookish nation than good ol' SA, and, dare I say this unsubstantiated, the majority of the USA.
From: IOL
Revealed - the books people just can't finish
London - War And Peace rubbed shoulders with The Satanic Verses on a list of the 10 ten novels that Britons are least likely to finish reading, according to a study on Monday.
Ten non-fiction titles won the same dubious accolade with David Blunkett's lengthy autobiography The Blunkett Tapes topping the list.
The Teletext Reading Report asked 4 000 Britons about their reading habits.
The findings suggest that in the digital age, attention spans are getting shorter, with four out of 10 respondents admitting they are unable to concentrate on long-winded novels.
Many also revealed they found it hard to make time for reading. Top reasons for this included; feeling tired (48 percent), watching TV (46 percent), or playing computer or interactive games (26 percent).
Kevin Killeen, author of the report, said: "The research illustrates that the pressure of finding time for reading is the main factor when it comes to discarding a book unfinished.
Topping the fiction list was DBC Pierre's Man Booker Prize-winning novel Vernon God Little, with 35 percent who had bought or borrowed the book admitting they could not get to the end.
JK Rowling's Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, one of the longest in the Harry Potter series, came second with 32 percent of adult readers confessing they did not reach the end.
James Joyce's notoriously impenetrable masterpiece Ulysses came in third. Ulysses was also one of the most popular books that respondents admitted they buy for decoration, rather than for reading purposes.
On the non-fiction list, Bill Clinton's exhaustive, 1 024-page autobiography My Life came in second after Blunkett, while David Beckham's autobiographical My Side was a close third.
For readers with no stamina, Killeen has compiled condensed versions of the top five fiction and non-fiction books, available on Teletext's TV information service or online.
Top 10 fiction titles which Britons cannot finish:
1. Vernon God Little, by DBC Pierre
2. Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
3. Ulysses, James Joyce
4. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres
5. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
6. The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
7. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
8. War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy
9. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
10.Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Non fiction:
1. The Blunkett Tapes, David Blunkett
2. My Life, Bill Clinton
3. My Side, David Beckham
4. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation, Lynne Truss
5. Wild Swans, Jung Chang
6. Easy Way To Stop Smoking, Allen Carr
7. The Downing Street Years, Margaret Thatcher
8. I Can Make You Thin, Paul McKenna
9. Jade: My Autobiography, Jade Goody
10. Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions, Mick O'Hare
Here's the BBC article on the same report. Some discoveries pulled from this article:
The average Briton spent more than £4,000 (R56,800+) on books during their lifetime.
Almost half of the books bought by the 4,000 Britons remained unfinished.
Anyway, it turns out that the British also struggle to finish books, and apart from the chavs, they appear to be far more of a bookish nation than good ol' SA, and, dare I say this unsubstantiated, the majority of the USA.
From: IOL
Revealed - the books people just can't finish
London - War And Peace rubbed shoulders with The Satanic Verses on a list of the 10 ten novels that Britons are least likely to finish reading, according to a study on Monday.
Ten non-fiction titles won the same dubious accolade with David Blunkett's lengthy autobiography The Blunkett Tapes topping the list.
The Teletext Reading Report asked 4 000 Britons about their reading habits.
The findings suggest that in the digital age, attention spans are getting shorter, with four out of 10 respondents admitting they are unable to concentrate on long-winded novels.
Many also revealed they found it hard to make time for reading. Top reasons for this included; feeling tired (48 percent), watching TV (46 percent), or playing computer or interactive games (26 percent).
Kevin Killeen, author of the report, said: "The research illustrates that the pressure of finding time for reading is the main factor when it comes to discarding a book unfinished.
Topping the fiction list was DBC Pierre's Man Booker Prize-winning novel Vernon God Little, with 35 percent who had bought or borrowed the book admitting they could not get to the end.
JK Rowling's Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, one of the longest in the Harry Potter series, came second with 32 percent of adult readers confessing they did not reach the end.
James Joyce's notoriously impenetrable masterpiece Ulysses came in third. Ulysses was also one of the most popular books that respondents admitted they buy for decoration, rather than for reading purposes.
On the non-fiction list, Bill Clinton's exhaustive, 1 024-page autobiography My Life came in second after Blunkett, while David Beckham's autobiographical My Side was a close third.
For readers with no stamina, Killeen has compiled condensed versions of the top five fiction and non-fiction books, available on Teletext's TV information service or online.
Top 10 fiction titles which Britons cannot finish:
1. Vernon God Little, by DBC Pierre
2. Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
3. Ulysses, James Joyce
4. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres
5. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
6. The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
7. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
8. War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy
9. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
10.Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Non fiction:
1. The Blunkett Tapes, David Blunkett
2. My Life, Bill Clinton
3. My Side, David Beckham
4. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation, Lynne Truss
5. Wild Swans, Jung Chang
6. Easy Way To Stop Smoking, Allen Carr
7. The Downing Street Years, Margaret Thatcher
8. I Can Make You Thin, Paul McKenna
9. Jade: My Autobiography, Jade Goody
10. Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions, Mick O'Hare
Here's the BBC article on the same report. Some discoveries pulled from this article:
The average Briton spent more than £4,000 (R56,800+) on books during their lifetime.
Almost half of the books bought by the 4,000 Britons remained unfinished.
Comments
On another point, UK book cover designs are infinitely better than their US counterparts.
but why is eats, shoots, leaves on there...that's a children's book i love to read (front to back) in the book store every now and again.
--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
As for Eats Shoots and lLaves, I actually have the book sitting unread on my work desk... for the past 10 months or so ;)