roughly how many books do you think you have read?

[cesare]

Yeah, i know

Librarything is really good for the book nerd, it satisfies all your listing / sorting / recommendation / reviews needs.

I've just started cataloging mine, but using Endnote. It takes a while to do properly because it searches which edition it is at the British Library (or whichever you choose). Bit of a long ongoing project though.

 

[idioteque]

I saw that annoying kid on TV as well, boasting about how good she is at everything, and cackled heartily when she couldn't climb up that log ladder thing, then shouted 'oh my god, you loser' when she started crying, and turned it off.

 

[Dillinger4]

I saw that annoying kid on TV as well, boasting about how good she is at everything, and cackled heartily when she couldn't climb up that log ladder thing, then shouted 'oh my god, you loser' when she started crying, and turned it off.

innit

 

[poului]

A 12 year old on childrens TV just claimed she has read up to 30,000 books.

She is obviously a complete liar.

Quite. Being 12 is no excuse.

 

[mentalchik]

Jeebus.........trying to work it out is headache inducing.....


i could read before i went to school have always read loads and i have nearly 2000 books at home now......

that's not counting all the library books over the last 40 years and books i've borrowed etc etc.....

 

[Threshers_Flail]

I might start making a list, should do the same for films as well.

Only been seriuosly redaing quality books for the last 5 years though, before that it was pretty much 4-4-2 magazine and whatever told to read in school. (Fondly remembers An Inspector Calls).

 

[scifisam]

Hmm. I still read about 4 books a week on average now, although lately I've had a bit of a book hunger and have doubled that. When I was a kid it was a couple of books a day (books of Famous Five length, that is). There have been a couple of periods where I've read tons and tons (like the Summer before my PGCE, when I thought we were suposed to read all 200 books on our reading list, so I did), but they're balanced out by periods where I read less. So that's at least 9,300 (using ten books a week for when I was a kid, which is probably a big underestimation, and 4 books a week since then). A few of them were about maths, helpfully. ('How Long Is a Piece of String' was the most recent one).

 

[ChrisC]

Since I started taking a record, here it is:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/chrispche

 

[gentlegreen]

Perhaps 30 in the 44 years since I learned to read - including "Sam and Jock" in about 1964 (I seem to remember there was a nut on a mat in that)

Highly overrated form of entertainment. Haven't read one in quite a few years. .

 

[Jon-of-arc]

Is it possible for a 12 year old to have read 30,000 books? I am outraged by these lies. I am going to write a letter of complaint to CBBC for trying to decieve me.

Thats close to 10 books a day (can't be bothered to do the proper math...)

Still, quite a funny claim though...

 

[N_igma]

About a 100, I've got tonnes of books I've started but haven't finished though.

 

[glaucon]

A 12 year old on childrens TV just claimed she has read up to 30,000 books.

Actually this just means that she has read between 0-30.000 books. I, myself, have read up to30 million books.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Dunno.

I'm a shite reader as an adult. Should read a lot more than I do.

But I read loads and loads as a kid, so probably about 1000

 

[phildwyer]

What does it mean to have "read" a book?

 

[colbhoy]

You know something, this is a question I have never actually thought about before. I read all the time, always have a book on the go and have done ever since I was a child. There was a period of perhaps 4 or 5 years when I stopped reading books for some reason, when I was in my mid 20's (I'm 41 now).

I read very quickly as a child and got through loads but growing up and working and having kids means I have less time now and so I am slow at getting through a book these days, perhaps 1 every 6 weeks or so.

I would estimate it is probably over 1000 (if we are including picture stories like Tintin/Asterix and annuals like the Beano etc).

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Is it possible for a 12 year old to have read 30,000 books? I am outraged by these lies. I am going to write a letter of complaint to CBBC for trying to decieve me.

If she learned to read at three, say, that's nine years of reading. 9 x 365. Something like 3000?

So: 10 books a day.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I guess you could do it, depending on the books.

 

[Fez909]

Proabably about 150. Some crazy numbers being floated about on this thread...9,500?

 

[Iguana]

This is depressing, when I saw the thread title I thought "probably 10's of 1000's." Then I stopped to work it out and it's probably somewhere in the 5000 region. And about 2/3's of those would have been before I was 15.

I'm always reading something, occasionally a few books at a time but I prefer one at a time. I haven't worked them into my calculations but between 6-15 I read most of my uncles comic collection which is GIMONGOUS! And now I read my own comics.

 

[scifisam]

Proabably about 150. Some crazy numbers being floated about on this thread...9,500?

I worked it out and everything. It was all there in the post.

 

[soulman]

I don't think I could work out how many, but a lot.

 

[girasol]

I spent my childhood/teenage/early adult years devouring books.

Then I think I just got tired of them, it takes me ages to read a book nowadays (lack of time and motivation )

 

[toblerone3]

From age 10 to 20 I kept a book list of books that I had read from cover to cover. The most I ever read in one year was about 60. So assuming I started reading at the age of 5, the highest estimate of books finished would be 60 x 36 = 2160.

Reality would certainly be much much lower than that. But then do you count a textbook where you have only read three or four chapters? If you allowed that then 2,000 could be reasonable estimate for me.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I have no way of knowing. I know I own hundreds of books, all of which I've read. I probably threw away or lost a bunch, too. Plus, I used to go to the library a lot.

Then there's all the textbooks etc.

 

[Missez]

Assuming I started reading my first books at the age of 6 (it may have been younger) and I've read at the very least 2 a week since then, then a conservative estimate would be 21,840 books. Not including all the childrens books I've read to my kids and the 1,000s of text books and holiday reading and the time as a supply teacher when i was paid to sit in the staffroom while the school was having Ofsted.

I conclude therefore that this child prodigy is talking out of her arse.

 

[Riklet]

Hundreds and hundreds of books, I dunno if i've read over a thousand, but I borrowed a fuck load of library books as a kid and we've always had tons of books lying around the house. I really have no idea though, but enough to make me think i'm not reading enough at the moment! Not finished a book for over a month...

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Hundreds and hundreds. Doubt i've made it into four figures.

 

[Kanda]

About 12

 

[Greebo]

If you count only books, not magazines, papers, and websites...Probably several thousand (including text books, course books, research etc), although I'm approx half to a quarter of my usual speed when reading something not in English - v frustrating.

 

[Epona]

I have well over 2000 books and I've read them all, plus there are the ones I've had out of the library, ones I've read while studying, ones I've borrowed, and ones I've given to charity shops when I've finished with them. So at least 2000, probably more like 2500 at a rough estimate.