New Survey Shows Readers Overwhelmingly Prefer Physical Books

[prwhite]

A new survey among 2,400 book in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany found that people overwhelmingly prefer physical books for their look, feel and smell. The French had the strongest preference for physical books, and most said they preferred to read or listen to fiction books for leisure and to get quality time alone. But, there were some surprise results from the 16-to-24 years old polled: 70% said they preferred physical books over e-books.

The study, commissioned by Stora Enso, showed:

• 65% of respondents prefer physical books,
• 21% prefer e-books, and
• 14% prefer audiobooks.

Prompted by the pandemic, people began rediscovering reading—partly due to the isolation—the physicality of a book felt more comfortable when it was time to relax, than a digital reader. Some even cited the smell of a physical book that could evoke pleasant memories.

Books and the paper they are printed on are circular & renewable: 42% of readers said they like to keep books when they finish, 26% loan or donate them, 26% sell their books and the remaining 5% recycle or discard them. Carbon neutrality was high on the agenda, with 61% of all respondents and 70% of youth saying they would pay more (on average 5.7% of the retail price) for carbon neutral books. A majority would also buy from an outlet that provided carbon neutral or carbon offset books.

 

[MailGuru]

My wife reads a lot. She does have a Kindle, but, I don't think that thing has been used in years.

 

[prwhite]

Frank Romano once told me that books would not go away, "Because of the 3-B's: Bed, Bath and Beach"! So far, this has remained true.

 

[MailGuru]

Frank Romano once told me that books would not go away, "Because of the 3-B's: Bed, Bath and Beach"! So far, this has remained true.

Smart man! Just out of curiosity, has he ever discussed lottery numbers with you? (He was dead accurate on books.....)

 

[ZoogeeWorld]

My wife started using here phone to read books, but still much rather have a physical book, only reason for the phone is she can dim the light so it doesn't bother me when I'm trying to sleep or she falls asleep with it on.