“If I had to make a huge, sweeping, overgeneralized statement, guys probably read less – and less fiction – than women,” says Jeff Garigliano, a senior editor at Portfolio magazine and the author of Dogface, a “guy” book about a punishing summer camp for kids who’ve been bad.
The reason men read less, Garigliano says, is that they think they should have outgrown the notion of make-believe, so they can’t find as much enjoyment in fiction. When they do read, they tend to go for nonfiction and biographies. Just the facts, sir.
Where does the divide begin? And when?
as long as we’re generalizing
…I think men also tend to go for espionage, mystery, sci fi, crime, adventure, historical fiction, etc., not all non-fiction.
If that’s so….
If that sweeping generalization holds true, why do so many men play MMORPGs? I think that theory is pretty baseless.
Guys like books. I like
Guys like books. I like sf/f, horror, mystery, and science books.
The divide begins early –
The divide begins early – when I was a children’s librarian, I was struck by how many boys wanted non-fiction only, and didn’t seem interested in fiction at all.
There’s something genetic there, me thinks.
So what does that make all of us males who love(d) fiction?
I always wonder about “genetic” and generic explanations. I loved fiction as a boy, and still do as an adult–and nonfiction as well, to be sure.
If you have to blame something (other than overgeneralization), I suspect nurture has a lot more to do with it than nature: “Get your head out of those books and go outside and play catch” wasn’t heard much in my household…
funny
now they’re doing PSAs about ‘send your child outside to play’ for an hour…except it’s most likely not books that their heads are in