Chapter 4

1. Poll 10 people by posing the question “Read any good books lately?” How many have they read in the past 6 months? What types of books have they read? What does this tell you about your sample and society?

Of the 10 people that I polled I learned that each person read books according to their personal situations in their life. My friend who has a mother who was recently diagnosed with personality and bi-polar disorder is reading books on how to cope with her mother’s illness. My mother who has four daughters that are no longer living at home is reading books on how to deal with being an empty nester. Every single teenage or mid-twenties girl that I polled has read the twighlight series. My sister who has a 3 month old baby is reading books on being a new mother and how to cope with a child who wont sleep through the night. My other sister with a 19 month old who wont eat real food other than breast milk is reading on how to wean a toddler. My other sister who has neither a job nor children is reading entertaining books that are on the popular book lists in order to keep herself entertained. With this sample poll, I learned that people read books according to the issues that are occurring in their lives. I learned that only people with a lot of free time read entertaining books rather than reading a book to learn something. I think that my little sample has a good correlation with society because most people are constantly on the go and don’t have a lot of time to just stop and read a good book. I think that people read and search for things in order to solve problems in their lives.

2. Which would you prefer to use in your college classes, regular textbooks or electronic textbooks? Why? Which would you prefer for your leisure reading? Why?

I would prefer to continue using regular textbooks in my college classes. After looking at my computer screen for a long period of time my eyes are so blurry and I feel like I am beginning to go blind. I can’t imagine reading the amount of reading that I have to do every night on a computer screen. Also, I like to mark up my books by highlighting important things and taking notes as I go. If I were to switch to electronic books I would not be able to do this.
I would also prefer to use regular books for my leisure reading. I like to curl up to a good book and I can’t imagine that I would be too comfortable cuddling up with my laptop to read a good book. Also, the same thing as textbooks, my eyes begin to hurt and go blind when I read on a computer for so long.