Turning the page

Poll: 86 percent of Temple residents read at least one book in 2022

DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE

The percentage of Americans who read at least one book a year jumped nearly 6 percent between 2014 and 2022, but almost half of all Americans haven’t read a paper or digital book in more than a year.

A national poll conducted by Test Prep Insight surveyed 1,621 American adults in an attempt to get a clear picture of current reading habits. Inspired by the Test Prep study, I launched a local poll on multiple social media sites, and the results were staggering.

While 48.5 percent of adults surveyed in the national poll said they did not read a single book in 2022, that number was only 14 percent in the Temple area.

Nationally, 51.5 percent said they read at least one book during 2022. That pales considerably to the 86 percent in the local poll who accomplished that feat.

OK, here’s where it gets really impressive: Of that 86 percent, 12 percent read one to 10 books during the year and 74 percent read at least 10 books. Some read more — people such as Temple’s De Conlin read a lot more.

“I read 114 books last year,” she said. “It was a mix of digital, audio and print.”