What's a good age:book ratio?

I have now idea what my ratio is and don't care. We're overflowing with books at home, let's not forget all those borrowed from libraries and then there are the countless newspapers/magazines. Which reminds me that another trip to the charity shop must be organised.
 
Books are awesome, I love books and I struggle to get my head around it when people say "I don't read".
 
Feek said:
Books are awesome, I love books and I struggle to get my head around it when people say "I don't read".
Click to expand...
It often ****es me off when people claim they don't have time to read or cook or indulge in hobbies.

Because usually these are the idiots who spend 6-7 hours a day watching tv.
 
I own a few thousand books but many of them relate to my work. I have probably read 75% of them cover to cover and dip into the remainder as and when necessary. As for novels, I read around one per week but mostly on a tablet these days rather than in physical form.
 
Just added this to the OP, as very few understood what I was getting at.
It seems I may not have explained this very well (or overestimated the audience) as only a handful of people have understood the thread.

I’m not saying that more books = more knowledgeable/better educated, or however you want to word it, but the silly preconceptions someone might have about how many/few books you have. You calculate the ratio by simply dividing the amount of books you have by your age in years.

Example:

97 books ÷ 29 years old = 3.34

The rules are that they must be physical books (not ebooks) that you own at this moment.

If you’re just going to comment that the methodology is flawed, or that it doesn’t matter how many books you own, you’re correct, but you’re also taking the thread too seriously – it’s just a bit of fun, not a competition.
Click to expand...
 
Here I've probably got 250-300 books, at my parent's house I've got at least the same again so probably a fairly conservative estimate would be 600 books which would give me a ratio of around 20. I'd happily have more but there's a question of storage space as well. No idea whether that counts as high, average or low and absolutely no idea how many books I've actually read but that's not the question anyway.
 
I dont currently possess all of the books I have read, unfortunately, due to reasons of space and the fact that a lot of them are owned by my brother :)

I am not a massive reader, mostly because I dont have the time, and when I do have the time I have to be in the mood. Sometimes I can go a year without reading a single book. Then the bug bites again and I will read through a stack of books like they are going out of fashion! I actually love reading and love getting lost in a good book. I love the quiet time, and the mental stimulous. I particularly love reading in winter on a Sunday afternoon, sitting with a cup of coffee in front of the fire, listening to the tap, tap of the rain on the windows. One of lifes simple pleasures, but for me one of the best.

My preferred genre is fantasy, normally ones in a series, but I also love books from the likes of Wilbur Smith, Stephen King, Robert Ludlem et al. The Dark Tower series of books by King are amazing (imo). I have recently started reading the Game of Thrones books by George RR Martin, and I am enjoying them immensely. I have never watched any of the TV episodes, but have the first season on Blu-Ray which I will watch at some point! Can't help feeling like the TV series will disappoint though! :p

Most of my books are in a two half height book cases in the lounge, and I would say in total there are about 120 books in the house, so my ratio is around 3.6 based on that ( books read from birth) and 7.05 based on the fact I didnt start reading novels till I was 15.

I have read circa 250 books since I was 15 (My first 'proper' book was Legend by David Gemmell). I am now 32, so that puts my ratio at 7.8 ish if taken from birth. If taken from the age I actually started reading it is nearer 14.7.

I do believe there is an automatic subconscious judgement that we all make when entering a room of someone we may or may not know that is filled with books. In our own minds I think it automatically transfers a learned status onto them and if we are honest about it, I think we all do it. Whether it is right or wrong, I think it is generally assumed that someone who is well read is more intelligent, wise and rounded, and a stack of books is an indicator towards this status.
 
I own 2 books, a quit smoking book, and the life of Karl pilkington. Gripping stuff

I do read a **** tonne of documentation at work, that'll do me for the time being :p
 
I probably only own a couple of dozen books at most, a few dozen more on my ereader. But I've probably read thousands..

How many books you own means nothing, after all, it is easy to purchase books by the yard (albeit expensive), and that does nothing other than to perhaps show that you have more money than sense.
 
Hey
I was given the Lotr set for my birthday and can anyone recommend an order?

I initially planned: The Fellowship of the Ring->The Two Towers->The Return of the King-> The Hobbit->The Silmarillion
Then probably repeat lol
Any reason I should change the order?, should I go hobbit first?
 
Have one room that is floor to ceiling book shelves on 3 walls. What my books owned to age ratio is I haven't got a clue but it's well above 20

And yes I have read them all (including the large number of historical reference books)
 
Cosimo said:
I have now idea what my ratio is and don't care. We're overflowing with books at home, let's not forget all those borrowed from libraries and then there are the countless newspapers/magazines. Which reminds me that another trip to the charity shop must be organised.
Click to expand...

Can I please count as a charity shop? :p
 
My 2.3 ratio is starting to look pretty bad. :(
BuffetSlayer said:
I do believe there is an automatic subconscious judgement that we all make when entering a room of someone we may or may not know that is filled with books. In our own minds I think it automatically transfers a learned status onto them and if we are honest about it, I think we all do it. Whether it is right or wrong, I think it is generally assumed that someone who is well read is more intelligent, wise and rounded, and a stack of books is an indicator towards this status.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
GiraffePencils said:
Hey
I was given the Lotr set for my birthday and can anyone recommend an order?

I initially planned: The Fellowship of the Ring->The Two Towers->The Return of the King-> The Hobbit->The Silmarillion
Then probably repeat lol
Any reason I should change the order?, should I go hobbit first?
Click to expand...

The internal timeline is this:

Silmarillion
Hobbit
LotR (one book, published as 3 because of its size).

Hobbit and LotR are closely related, set close together in time and featuring some of the same people. It's probably better to read The Hobbit first, since it's the beginning of that story. LotR does stand alone, but if you're going to read both it's probably better to read them in order.

There's some difference in tone - The Hobbit was initially written as a children's story and the LotR was aimed at an older audience.

The Silmarillion is set long before Hobbit/LotR, so it doesn't really matter if you read it afterwards. There are connections, but it's quite seperate. It's sort of like reading a book set in Iron Age Britain, a book set in 1990s Britain and a book set in current Britain that follows directly on from the 1990s one. Only more so, because there's much more time between Silmarillion and Hobbit.

Silmarillion is very different in tone. Tolkien wrote it for himself, essentially. It wasn't published until after he died. It's 5 pieces of work published together, starting with the creation story for his world, and it's in a rather archaic style. It's sort of an old English saga in modern English, focused on family connections, tribal connections, gods and demigods and legendary figures. It's quite different to a modern novel and most people find it heavy going because of that.
 
I'm in the don't read camp so I guess I own less than 5 books. They were all bought when an ex tried to get me into reading but I managed 1 and a bit books before I couldn't be bothered anymore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom