How many books do you read?

https://booksofbrilliance.com/2023/01/14/how-many-books-does-an-average-person-read/

I was surfing the web when I came upon the story above about how many books a person reads in a year. Basically it suggests that people read on average between 10 to 20 books a year. Some avid readers like Bill Gates get through 50 books a year but most stick to about 1 or 2 a month.

So what does that mean for me? Last year according to Goodreads I read over 600 books. If the average person reads about 20 books a year how did I read 600 especially when on some days I read nothing. 600 books means I read about 2 a day and I'm not a speed reader. That said sometimes I do skip over parts of the books or just skim the story not focusing on every word but that is quite normal in my mind for any reader.  Why was the writer so far off  when it comes to people like me? Am I abnormal?

I guess it all comes down to what you think of as a book. For most people a book has probably over 300 pages and tells a complete story.  It has characters you can develop, fall in love with and a story that describes everything in detail. For me a book has evolved. In the last week I read several books each unlike the other.

1. Dai`s Big Adventure # 23. A Manga published over 30 years ago as part of the Dragon Quest series it tells the story of a boy raised by monsters. He is discovered to be a legendary hero and begins a quest to stop the Demon King. It has 200 pages a book and I`ve read it several times. (This was in Japanese)

2. Captain`s Fury by Jim Butcher. This is the traditional book of the bunch. It tells the story of Tavi as he struggles to stop the invasion of his land by both werewolf like monsters and stupid politicians from his own side. This is book 4 of 6 but I am currently on book 5.

3. The Flash 792. This is part two of the current storyline which has the Flash family fighting invaders that run on the edge of the Speed Force. A comic it too me ten minutes to finish.

4. The Trash of the Count`s Family. This is a Korean web novel translated into English. It tells the story of a man fighting a monster invasion suddenly thrust into the novel he was reading and now has to stop the evil invading wizards from destroying his slacker lifestyle.

5. Nightwing 100. Another comic but bigger in size. It brings together many stories from across his history and provides a satisfying read as he and Bruce (Batman) finally acknowledge their relationship is like father and son.

6. I could go on.

What I`m getting at is two of the five books took me about 10 minutes to read. One (4) took over a year to read but was broken up into 7 books, and is still continuing. The one traditional  book took me about a week of sustained reading and if I don`t get distracted I can usually go through one a week. In January I also read another book, book. 

So to me a book is anything, regardless of size that is published in some manner or format. They vary from the paper books I read growing up to the electronic pages that tell a story chapter by chapter and you only get daily or weekly updates. In addition magazines and comics should be considered books. The article suggests that the sample size could have been improved by narrowing the focus on different groups but it could also have been improved by expanding the definition of a book. 

Books are great and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Don`t limit yourself to one narrow definition and explore.