Of printed matter.

[green_dreams]

Dammit!

Yellow Dawn: The Age of Hastur's release date has been pushed back. To one hour past midnight--

(--wait, there's Daylight Savings Time adjustments--)

--to midnight on December 31.

I mean, I will wait. I have thought it an interesting setting since I first ran across it, before the site relaunch and all the sample pages being taken down for revision. I continue to think it an interesting setting. I just wish things would be smoothed out and the waiting would not be needed.

========

John has just informed me of a study which indicates that one in four Americans read no books in the last year. I am utterly confused. I don't read nearly as many books as I used to in high school and university--there's more online, I've got less free time, and I've actually discovered a few reasons to watch TV--but I have trouble imagining not reading any.

========

On a similar note, Unhallowed Metropolis had its debut at GenCon, and will be available in October. Am slightly puzzled by this; if copies were good enough to print and sell, why can I not buy any of the lovely lovely Victorian zombie-apocalypse material?

(While I am suffering, have their information Upon the Physiology of the Animate Dead.)

========

In other news, went by the comic book shop. Teenagers from Mars was not in the GN section. Issues three and four of Gear Head were in and looked interesting; OTOH, I was browsing on my lunch hour and was not moved to spend ~$20 on comics to get up to speed.

Am currently really hoping it makes it to GN.

(ObTangent: There is other stuff that I *will* buy, but the only thing I really think it makes *sense* for me to buy as a pamphlet is Fell. $2.40, 16 pages of comic story, 8 pages of writing and other stuff, no ads. This actually seems reasonable. Most of the stuff I buy doesn't; it costs nearly twice as much for less content and more noise.

(...yeah, I'm not entirely sure why I keep buying those other books, either. Partly not wanting to wait for a GN, partly not being sure if they will survive to make it to a GN, partly wanting to do something small to support comics. I guess.)

Comments

[pyroofone.livejournal.com]

Like to make you hate me moment(tm): Bioshock will be installed and consuming my soul this evening :)

[pyroofone.livejournal.com]

Oh, also: Fell, I have been able to snag a few issues, They are gooood. Certainly worth the read of nothing else is preventing you.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Heh. I am currently listening to John play it in his room, myself. He ended up getting the edition that comes with the Big Daddy figurine, which is awfully neat to look at.

(I will play it. Soon. Probably not this week, but soon.)

I've got all the Fell out to date (unless by some strange chance one came out last week); I just meant that it's the only one of the titles I buy where there's a really good financial/enjoyment return/value/balance/thingy/word thing going.

...man, I hope that made sense.

[drjamez.livejournal.com]

It's easy for me to imagine Americans not reading even one book in a year. With the Internet, the volume of reading might be higher or lower (I am unsure if any word-count studies on online text have been made), to include replacing old-school books.

Yeah, it's hard to imagine. I can only speak for myself, but after doing my dissertation, I'll be damned if I crack a book in several months, maybe even more than a year. Ugh. No thanks. Internet text is enough, thanks. ;-)

- James -

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Mhm. I realize that all the online text is probably cutting into hardcopy book reading (and I am kind of wondering about magazines, journals, and other periodicals, as well).

And I can completely understand not reading books for a while after a dissertation, but if *that's* what accounts for the results, I suspect the survey methodologist needs to be slapped or hired.

[jagash.livejournal.com]

I also do not know of the ages accounted for in that study. I would not at all be surprised if no one in the 0-5 range read books and that would likely account for a healthy 10-20% of the American population.

If it only dealt with adult Americans, then i will simply shake my head in disbelief

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Strictly adults.

Though really, do you think the odds of 1 in 4 kids in that age range *not* picking up a book are that good? Possibly just a primer, sure, but if you were surveying children I would presume it to count.

[jagash.livejournal.com]

"Read no books" seems to imply independent reading of a complete book which is, in my experience, typically not found even at the most basic stages until around age 6.

Though the adults bit makes me suspect more that many of the people filling out the survey ect were confused, mis-understood the questions or had no memory.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

This is the point at which I'm going to ask you about your experience, the definition of "basic stages", and what exactly you mean by "independent"--encouraged to do it by someone else, or helped along by someone else? :) I mean, good grief, if anecdotes were data than a statistically significant proportion of the population would have been reading books by age three.

Meantime, I'm going to quietly wonder why--apparently without knowing much at all about the survey--you're willing to suspect that the data is flawed rather than consider it plausible.

[jagash.livejournal.com]

Basic Stages: Reading childrens books/primers
Independent: Reading themselves without direct assistance of an adult or being read to.

As for why i am willing to suspect such it is twofold. Firstly, as i worked in phone surveys i realize that i would have to record anything they told us regardless of the quality. Some methods of collecting information can be flawed and i have direct experience with those. Secondly, it is due to the fact that i share the same confusion with regards to those numbers which simply make no sense to me unless there were some kind of flaw somewhere in the process.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I'm clearly in a foul mood at the moment, and I apologize.

[jagash.livejournal.com]

Not a worry, you have more then a right to be in any mood and no offence at all was taken. :)

[torrain.livejournal.com]

> I would not at all be surprised if no one in the 0-5 range read books and
> that would likely account for a healthy 10-20% of the American population.

Wait a second...

...you appear to be saying that anywhere from one in ten to one in five Americans are five or younger.

Contemplate this for a second?

(By the way, a quick Google indicates that as of the 2004 US census, 7% of the American population was under age 5, and another 12% was between age 5 and 13.)

[jagash.livejournal.com]

I was being optimistic about the proportion of young children in the hopes that it explained the statistics somewhat. Either way, the point was simply that _if_ children were included in the statistic then there would be a reasonable basis for part of those numbers.

Alas, tis not the case.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*raised eyebrow* I was simply saying that not reading books seemed unusual, and difficult for me to comprehend. Are you saying it's unreasonable (which is different)?

[jagash.livejournal.com]

All of the above points are perfectly valid in my opinion and i agree with them as i share the same views. Sorry for my argumentative posting style, i know it annoys a number of people.