how many books to read for phd

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How many sources are enough? Six questions on breadth and depth of literature reviews

The first question I posed in the title of my blog post is one that all of my students (undergraduate and graduate) and most of my research assistants ask me: how do I know when I’ve read enough for a literature review? The answer is never clear cut, unfortunately. I am someone who loves reading, and who needs to read broadly because his own work is interdisciplinary . I’m also quite systematic in how I read , and I prefer to err on the side of having TOO MANY sources rather than be accused of not knowing the field.

I also realize not everyone has the time to be on top of the literature , particularly with teaching, service, family and caring and research obligations. I am going to answer the top six questions I get asked on breadth and depth of literature reviews, and in doing so, I am going to suggest a few shortcuts that may help narrowing a literature review search and finding the “sweet spot” where you’ve read enough that you feel confident enough to start writing your paper, chapter or thesis.

1. How many sources should I read for my literature review? This is an absurd question that is prompted by arbitrarily setting a random number of sources as “enough”. If you read the right five sources, you’ve probably covered a full field. But if you read 40 sources that all tend to pull in different directions, you’ll still be unable to cover all the sources.

Here’s my totally non-scientific take for coursework-related materials: a final research paper should at least use 13 additional sources to those in the syllabus (one additional paper per week) for an undergraduate class, and an in-depth literature review for a graduate course should be in the realm of 26 (2 additional papers per week) to 39 (3 additional papers per week for PhD students) . If somebody writes a final paper for my courses that only use the readings we did during the semester, it shows they didn’t go any further and I’ll probably penalize them.

2. Where do I get sources for my literature review if I am starting up a new topic? Well, here are a couple of strategies:

There are 2 clear sources of citations for literature reviews: (1) papers that are systematic reviews or meta-reviews pic.twitter.com/sYCUGv3kg0 — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) June 18, 2017

Read literature summaries and reviews published in journals. There’s plenty of journals now that provide reviews of the literature. Three I’m well aware of are WIRES (Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews) and Geography Compass, as well as Progress in Human Geography. When reading Progress in Human Geography, you probably want to look for the “Progress Reports”.
Search for “a review of the literature” or “a meta-review” type of article s (either Google Scholar or other online databases). These articles will usually provide a pretty extensive range of sources. Given their goal and scope, they’re also probably comprehensive enough. Meta-reviews tend to be more synthetic and provide a research agenda and specific research questions that need to be looked at in future research.
Ask specialists (or look for their work) for key citations from where you can do citation tracing . For example, if I were to do a search on water ethics, I would ask Christiana Peppard, Jeremy Schmidt, Lucy Rodina for suggestions. Or I would look for articles citing them. If I were to do something on climate politics, I’d look for Kathryn Harrison, Sarah Burch, Max Boykoff, Mat Patterson.

(2) papers that are "a literature review of" (this should be obvious, but a lot of people don't seem to know this!) pic.twitter.com/T1xaK2yvv9 — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) June 18, 2017

Also the scoping review, a derivative of systematic reviews that is meant to be broader and more exploratory: https://t.co/WQjEpnuZR3 — AJ Wray (@WrayAJ) June 18, 2017

3. “When should I stop reading and start writing?”

My answer to that question is: you should be reading AND writing . Apparently, a lot of people feel like they need to Read All The Things before they can write a literature review. That’s why I always suggest that when you process a reading (a PDF or a printed source), you should generate at the very minimum a row entry in your Excel conceptual synthesis , and a synthetic note (or a rhetorical precis ). Obviously, you gain a lot more if you write a full-fledged memo , but you may want to wait to write the memo up until you’ve read a few sources. But you should ALWAYS be writing as you read. You may not assemble the full literature review , but at least you can start with an annotated bibliography .

4. How do I know when to stop reading/researching/seeking more sources? This is again a very tough question. Having mapped a very broad survey of the literature on informal waste picking, I can assure you that I felt I could not stop even after reading 50 articles. There is just simply too much published. But one of the reasons why I encourage my students to stop when they reach conceptual saturation (e.g. when they start seeing the same themes repeated over and over again) is because I don’t think you gain too much, marginally, from reading yet another paper on the same topic but using a different case study.

For example, I recently wrote a series of memorandums on the urban commons. I had basically mapped the entire body of works on urban commons using the first 10 citations I found on Google Scholar. However, I wanted to see how much more I could go in depth on the topic. What I found was that there were many case studies, but all using the same conceptual framework. So that’s when I stopped. When I saw that basically every other paper was a variation of the same central 10 ones, but using different case studies. I added those sources to my bibliography, but I didn’t need to incorporate them to my literature review.

Another way to respond to this question is: read enough to answer your questions properly.

The two biggest questions that probably would encompass the previous ones are related to breadth and depth.

5. How far reaching should your literature review be? Scoping a literature review, as Dr. Pat Thomson shows here , is not an easy task. It requires us to search through many months or even years of published literature. I always do Google Scholar searches at least 7 years into the past (e.g. 2010 articles would totally be welcome, as would be books published in 2010) because of the very long lag-time that exists between submission, acceptance and publication. My citation tracing process also looks at the last 7 years of scholarship of key authors.

Then you have the other associated question – what about the “seminal” (I prefer the word fundamental) articles or books?

For me, this is the most challenging component. When I know a field very well (for example, agenda-setting theory in public policy), I can easily decide which authors I will be seeking (Stuart Soroka, Michael Howlett, Baumgartner and Jones, Kingdon). If I am doing policy design, I’ll go with Helen Ingram, Ann Schneider, etc. And then based on doing a citation tracing exercise , I will go to those younger scholars who are citing these key authors. But again, this requires you to know the field already.

This is where a supervisor, a coauthor, a colleague or a trusted scholar on Twitter may be helpful with narrowing the search scope. You can ask “ who are the key authors I should be reading on Topic A ” or “ which are the key citations I should be looking at to get a grasp of Field B “. And then use those authors to create a map of the literature .

And the last question, which just about everyone asks me:

6. Do I need to do an in-depth reading of All The Things? This is completely a question that has arbitrary answers and a broad range of parameters to work around. It also depends on what type of literature review you are writing. If you are, for example, preparing your doctoral comprehensive examinations, you DO want to read EVERYTHING and do so IN DEPTH . You need to demonstrate that you know your field of study, broadly and deeply.

However, if you are writing a literature review, for example, of agenda-setting theory and its applications to health policy, you may want to read in depth 5-10 articles on health policy, 5-7 articles on agenda-setting theory, and then start writing from there. Again, in-depth reading is correlated with the extent and degree to which you need to demonstrate that you know a field.

My method, as most people may have noticed, is usually as follows:

I read 5-10 citations that I find key. This reading is usually in-depth.
I create the set of questions I want to answer. I choose 3-5 citations around each question. All the reading associated with these questions I do using the AIC method , or skimming and scribbling unless I find key ones that need to be read in depth.
I write a memorandum for each one of the questions I’m trying to answer. In this memorandum, I assemble a mini-literature review that answers the question.
I fuse all the memorandums into a larger document where I have mapped out how each question (and answer) relates to the overall topic.
I read my entire literature review and restart with citation tracing until I reach concept saturation .

Hopefully this post will help those who are struggling with literature reviews, as the summer approaches! You may also want to revisit my Literature Review posts .

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Posted in academia , research .

Tagged with literature review .

By Raul Pacheco-Vega – June 17, 2017

5 Responses

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Thank you so much for helping me to demistify the concept of approaching/ attempting to write a LitReview. This has helped me so much

So glad this is helpful!

This is exactly what I needed today, thank you!!

This was a great article! Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge.

I am currently on a year out from studying at undergrad level due to ill health but when I was studying, I was frequently demoralised by how hard I found it to capture my understanding of the material in my written work. I was assured that it would come with practice, and given writing guide books like Strunk’s “Elements of Style” but I didn’t feel like I was making progress. Given it’s only undergrad, the bar for written work is quite low, but I was anxious that my writing skills would hold me back, especially if I chose to go into post-grad research; it never felt like I was getting enough writing practice while actually studying. This really hit me last year’s exams when due to distance learning, instead of producing one uncited essay in 3 hours, I was expected to spend around 5-6 hours in a 48 hour window writing a fully sourced essay. I realised how ill-equipped I was to do focussed reading and note-taking, having previously been able to consume entire topics of content in my own time.

I’m so glad to have stumbled across your blog. I’m not due to resume studying for another year, but the techniques and strategies you describe here provide an effective starting point for practicing the research skills I feel lacking in. Having a clear starting point for skills based work makes me feel actively motivated to start working on it during this year off from formal studying. Thank you for producing this content.

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10 Reading Strategies for PhD Students To Improve Long-Term Accessibility of Information

Dec 18, 2020

Have you checked out the rest of The PhD Knowledge Base ? It’s home to hundreds more free resources and guides, written especially for PhD students.

Author: Paul Druschke

Everyone’s PhD is different, but one aspect of this academic journey is a constant: There is a lot to read. No matter the discipline, there are always hundreds of articles, books, and other media that are relevant to your research – and even more literature that is not.

A PhD is therefore more than your typical term paper for which you consult a dozen or so texts. Instead of tens, there are hundreds of articles, chapters, graphs, tables, videos and more you need to keep an eye on. As it is difficult to judge a book by its cover, you will probably also spend a lot of time reading texts that turn out to be insignificant.

No matter its importance, new information is first stored in your short-term memory, which makes it susceptible to two limiting factors: duration and capacity.

View it like a continuously recording surveillance camera. It is always taking in and saving new information, but once the file gets too big, previous data gets deleted. To preserve something noteworthy, that piece gets saved and can be accessed later on.

Hello, Doctor…

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Why should I use reading strategies?

Now there is good news and bad news. While we unfortunately cannot transfer information to the easily accessible long-term memory by simply pushing a button, we can employ consolidation methods such as repetition and mnemonic devices to store our knowledge in our long-term memory. The bad news, though, is that our long-term memory is only theoretically unlimited, and it is also not safe from decay over time.

However, not all is lost. There are strategies that will help you to retain the information you find in articles, books, or any other type of media. In fact, there is quite a range of products. We have… C2R, PQ4R, SQP2RS, maybe even some OK5R or SQRQCQ.

No, these aren’t black market cognition-enhancing drugs. They are actually abbreviating strategies aimed at structuring the reading process. They each propose various steps to be followed when reading a text to guide you through certain sections with various means. Feel free to try some of them for yourself, but be aware that there is always more to it than just working on the text itself.

The benefits of a structured approach to reading

You need to acknowledge that reading isn’t something you can just do on the side. It requires your attention from the beginning to the end, or else you will keep needing to re-read because you missed a connection. Especially for complicated literature, using a structured approach can help your understanding.

No matter which steps each strategy wants you to follow throughout the reading process, all of them share a common goal: to make reading easier for you and to gain quicker access to the information you actually need. And once you find a method that works for you, you can save both time and energy, while also building up your literary knowledge and becoming an expert in your field.

Taking the amount of literature and the limitations of our cognitive capacity into account, we need to consider strategies that’ll help keep important information accessible in the long run.

There are three major areas which you can manipulate when it comes to reading for your PhD: before, while, and after working on a text.

So, let us explore which actions you can take to read better and improve long-term accessibility of new information.

Your PhD thesis. All on one page.

Use our free PhD structure template to quickly visualise every element of your thesis.

Pre-Reading

You don’t just put a dozen chemicals into a container, shake them up, and hope for them to turn into gold. (Chemists, please correct me if I am wrong.) So why should it be the same with literature? While it might be possible to just read whatever you find and make sense of it later on, you should consider getting an overview of your bibliography first, group texts on the same domain together, and differentiate between basic and advanced literature.
Create a distraction-free environment. Your smartphone’s notifications will only disrupt your reading flow, so turn them off. The text in front of you should be the only thing keeping your mind busy. It might be hard to disconnect for a while, but being in the right state of mind will help you process the text more effectively.
Get an idea of the text in front of you. Skim the text for its headings to understand how it is divided. Taking visual material such as graphs, pictures, or tables into account can also point you toward crucial sections. The point is to narrow down which sections of a text are relevant to you, so you are not wasting time with reading irrelevant chapters.

While-Reading

Even if you have selected the parts you deem necessary, do not read them from the beginning to the end immediately. Instead, search for specific keywords that are of interest for your research in the introductory paragraphs as well as the summaries. This can reduce your final workload even more. You can always go back to an article or text later on, but remember that unnecessary information can overwrite important information in your short-term memory.
Depending on how much time you have, the difficulty of the text, and how fast you can read, you can now choose between reading the remaining sections from start to finish (this may be better for understanding logical connections), or scanning the text for keywords and surrounding sentences.
Take the pressure off your short-term memory by highlighting important sections of the text, adding comments to help you reconstruct your thoughts and deductions during a later reading, and adding page markers to point to relevant paragraphs. Once you have dealt with the text, create a summary, e.g. on a flashcard, containing basic metadata such as author(s), year, and the title, and the information you want to take away from it. When done right, looking at these notes can replace the need to go back into the original text. There are many programs you can use to make digital libraries of your literature. While their primary purpose is to collect all the metadata and help you to generate citations, you can also add keywords, comments, and reviews to each entry. Much to the flashcards, such organization can make specific information readily accessible at a later point in time, and you can integrate cross-references between your texts
Take breaks, ideally after some breakthrough or a completed section as defined by yourself, e.g. one article, two chapters, thirty minutes. You can use them to give the new information a second thought, get your dopamine rush by checking all the ever so important notifications on your smartphone, or to relax for a moment.
Reading for a long period of time, especially on a digital display, can cause your eyes to get dry and you might develop trouble focusing. Give them some rest, e.g. by closing them for a while or looking into the distance. You may consider increasing the font size for digital texts or adjusting the lights when reading from paper.

Post-Reading

To transfer the knowledge into your long-term memory, you should periodically repeat the information and deductions you gathered from the texts. By revisiting previously read literature, you may now view them with a different perspective or make new connections.
It can be difficult to change your habits and you may not have liked the approach you took with the first few texts. Take some time to reflect on the strategy used to work on the literature and whether it really saved you time, helped you in narrowing down the essential information, and increased the information’s accessibility. Figure out which step causes you trouble and try fine-tuning it.

No matter the length or difficulty of the next text on your pile of literature, you should now be well-equipped to work on it. Changing your typical way of reading might at first feel a bit unfamiliar, but I encourage you to embrace this feeling and to knowingly reflect upon the changes you experience. Academic reading is not easy, but you can make it easier.

Paul Druschke is an early career academic and PhD researcher at the Technische Universität Dresden in Germany. Aside from his research at the Institute of Geography, he is teaching courses on academic writing, time and stress management, and leadership competencies. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @pauldruschke.

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How many pages per week should I expect to read?

By Nordicllama March 28, 2012 in History

Nordicllama

To all of you lucky scholars who have experienced graduate school in history, how many pages a week should I expect to read? I have heard a book per week per class is a good baseline. Thoughts?

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There is what you're assigned to read, what you're expected to read, and what you will end up reading.

Assigned reading

In my experience, the assigned readings varied greatly by the type of class. At the upper end, in terms of pages, courses in social history tended to have each week a monograph and up to six or seven articles so that one could get a sense of the historiographical debate in which the monograph is situated. On top of these assignments were book reviews--generally two or three a semester.

Military/diplomatic courses were middle of the pack in terms of assigned books. However, one got to do extra reading for book reviews and class presentations. In my experience, one got to read at least two books for each of three book reviews, and to do what ever additional reading necessary to frame those works in a historiographical context (e.g. the causes of the War of 1812, the "military revolution," the influence of Mahan upon sea power, the origins of the Cold War, the "nature" of the War in Vietnam).

At the lower end in terms of total pages assigned, were classes in theory. However, as theoretical works can be very, ah, turgid, the sledding could be rather difficult.

Expected reading

On top of what one is assigned, there's what one is expected to read. Some professors will pass out from time to time bibliographies. They will then go through them during a seminar and indicate the titles that can be read, skimmed, or avoided altogether. There's a certain "code" in these conversations that you'll either figure out very quickly or end up reading the wrong works while avoiding the ones you need to know. The body language of professors during these conversations can also matter.

Then, there are your reading lists for your qualifying exams. These lists can be built from a combination of your coursework, the bibliographies, your own historiographical research, and negotiations with the professors who will administer your qualifying exams. Another source of information will be those graduate students who are ABD. However, they can be hard to track down and they are not always inclined to be as helpful as they might. (The bottom line is that qualifying exams can kick your backside and make you feel two inches tall. You may not feel like talking about them after you've passed. You will find out how deep the scars are when you're going through your qualifying exams and every professor in the department you meet will go out of his or her way to salt the wound with some playful ribbing.)

On top of these two categories, your department will expect you to do more than enough reading to learn the broader contours of your profession. Names will be dropped, and titles referenced in passing, and then you'll go to the library and spend enough time with a work so that you understand the historiographical significance of that work.

And then there's the reading of periodicals your department assumes you're doing. One professor made this assumption clear by giving first year students-- at the end of their first class meeting as graduate students-- one week to write a five to seven page essay that discussed ten years' worth of issues of three periodicals--with one having to be completely outside our fields of interest.

What you'll end up reading

The rule of thumb is that you'll average a book a day, just about every day, until you take your qualifying exams. For some, this guideline will translate into reading about a book a day. For others, it will be about developing an understanding of the core arguments of one book a day. The variables that make it difficult to make the rule of thumb a hard and fast rule include: individual differences (some feel best reading every word of most books), a department's parameters for qualifying exams, an exam committee's combined expectations, one's relationships with the professors on one's committee, the individual differences among professors, and the historiographical sophistication of one's fields.

About a book day and maybe some articles (You will get used to this). As far as pages... 700-1500 pages a week. I have had some weeks where it was probably over 2000 pages, but just a handful.

My goodness. I need to work on my stamina.

shaboomshaboom

Wow. I think I need to take a speed reading seminar. Thanks for the heads up, my friends!

Maybe there should be a tips for reading like a historian thread, if enough people think it would be helpful.

I would be eager to read such a thread.

This probably would be helpful. I know I had a steep learning curve during my MA and now I've been out of practice for a year!

That would be fantastic. Thanks, Sigaba!

Simple Twist of Fate

Thanks for starting this thread, Llama - and thanks to Sigaba to starting the reading tips thread.

I'm almost obsessive about reading books cover-to-cover (as I think I noted in the What Are You Reading? thread). I realize that realistically, this may be a habit I will have to abandon.

Llama - I've tried (a version of) speed reading... it can work fine for me in fiction, but usually it just doesn't work out for me in the denser, academic stuff. Maybe my brain just doesn't move fast enough. And of course, when I'm reading fiction, I'm usually trying to relax and enjoy myself rather than attempting to finish it as quickly as possible. So my point being that it hasn't really helped me much in the past. Your results may vary.

I read about 50 or so books a semester. I can't count the amount of articles. I wish I could give tips on how to read well, but I am one of those weird people who can churn out a good 750 word review less than two hours after picking a book up.

It goes in ebbs and flows. Next week I have seven books and four articles to read. I also need to produce 6500 words of thoughtful analysis on all of that reading. It's a busier week than usual.

I had a book of 524 pages and a book of 431 pages to read for this week. I didn't have any writing due this week, but I'm already done with all of my assignments at this point. I'm only in two actual readings courses this semester (1 lecture, 1 independent study paper). Reading 3 to 4 books a week (plus whatever you have for your own research) is a reasonable expectation. You either have to read a lot faster than I do or be good at "gutting" a book (I posted my method in the new thread on the topic).

Read the intro word for word. Then read the first paragraph of every chapter and the first sentence of every paragraph. This was day one grad school info. you are looking for argument, not content...

I'm not against skimming of course, but I'd recommend a more holistic approach. Not much point otherwise.

virmundi and grlu0701

I am a slooooow reader....oy! I can't read a book a day!

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5 must-reads for doctoral students

January 11, 2016

The decision to pursue a doctoral degree can be exciting and scary at the same time.

Good preparation will ease the path to writing a great dissertation. Reading some expert guide books will expand your knowledge and pave the way for the rigorous work ahead.

Capella University faculty, doctoral students, and alumni recommend these five books for doctoral students in any discipline.

1. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler

âOne book fundamental to my doctoral education that my mentor had my entire cohort read, and which I still recommend to this day, is How To Read a Book , which discusses different reading practices and different strategies for processing and retaining information from a variety of texts.â â Michael Franklin, PhD, Senior Dissertation Advisor, Capella School of Public Service and Education.

Originally published in 1940, and with half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the most successful guide to reading comprehension and a Capella favorite. The book introduces the various levels of reading and how to achieve themâincluding elementary reading, systematic skimming, inspectional reading, and speed-reading.

Adler also includes instructions on different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy, and social science works.

2. Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish by John D. Cone, PhD and Sharon L. Foster, PhD

This book discusses the practical, logistical, and emotional stages of research and writing. The authors encourage students to dive deeper into defining topics, selecting faculty advisers, scheduling time to accommodate the project, and conducting research.

In clear language, the authors offer their advice, answer questions, and break down the overwhelming task of long-form writing into a series of steps.

3. Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day by Joan Balker

This book is recommended for its tips on compartmentalizing a large project into actionable items, which can be helpful when working on a project as mammoth as a dissertation. Balker connects with the failure and frustration of writing (as she failed her first attempt at her doctorate), and gives encouragement to students who encounter the fear of a blank page.

She reminds dissertation writers that there are many people who face the same writing struggles and offers strong, practical advice to every graduate student. Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day can be applied to any stage of the writing process.

4. From Topic to Defense: Writing a Quality Social Science Dissertation in 18 Months or Less by Ayn Embar-Seddon OâReilly, Michael K Golebiewski, and Ellen Peterson Mink

As the authors of this book state, âEarning a doctorate degree requires commitment, perseverance, and personal sacrificeâplacing some things in our lives on hold. It is, by no means, easyâand there really is nothing that can make it âeasy.ââ

This book provides support for the most common stumbling blocks students encounter on their road to finishing a dissertation. With a focus on a quick turnaround time for dissertations, this book also outlines the importance of preparation and is a good fit for any graduate student looking for support and guidance during his or her dissertation process.

From Topic to Defense can be used to prepare for the challenges of starting a doctoral program with helpful tools for time management, structure, and diagnostics.

5. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Morningsâand Life by Laura Vanderkam

According to author and time management expert Laura Vanderkam, mornings are key to taking control of schedules, and if used wisely, can be the foundation for habits that allow for happier, more productive lives.

This practical guide will inspire doctoral students to rethink morning routines and jump-start the day before itâs even begun. Vanderkam draws on real-life anecdotes and research to show how the early hours of the day are so important.

Pursuing a doctoral degree is a big decision and long journey, but it also can be an exciting and positive experience. Learn more about Capellaâs online doctoral programs .

What's it like to be a doctoral student?

Learn more about the experience, explore each step of the journey, and read stories from students who have successfully earned their doctorate.

Explore The Doctoral Journey >>

Can I transfer credits into a doctoral program?

January 8, 2020

What are the steps in writing a dissertation?

December 11, 2019

The difference between a dissertation and doctoral capstone

November 25, 2019

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Tom Bennett Lab

The 7 Books Every PhD Student Should Read

By alex wakeman.

Let’s be honest. If you’re nerdy enough to be doing a PhD, you probably love a good book. Whether you’re looking for entertainment or advice, distraction or comfort, the seven listed here can each, in their own way, help you through your frustrating but uniquely rewarding life of a PhD student.

Isaac Asimov – I, Robot

“1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.”

The Three Laws of Robotics. Simple. Elegant. Watertight. What could go wrong? These three, now legendary rules are printed on the first page of ‘I, Robot’ then are immediately followed by a series of masterful short stories in which Asimov dismantles his seemingly perfect creation before your very eyes. With ‘I, Robot’ (and many of his other works) Asimov displays dozens of ways rules can be bent and circumvented. As it turns out, a lot can go wrong.

In some ways, this collection of short stories about misbehaving robots acts as a training manual for one of the most essential skills any PhD student must develop: discerning truth. Has that experiment proved what you think it proves? To what extent does it prove that? Are you sure? You might be convinced, but will everyone else at the conference see it that way? At first glance, Asimov’s Three Laws seem like a pretty good crack at a clear and concise system to prevent anything from quirky, metallic shenanigans to an anti-organic apocalypse. Are you sure about that? Look at them again, have a think, test them as vigorously as you would any real-world proof. Then go and read ‘I, Robot’ and find out how wrong you were.

Sayaka Murata – Convenience Store Woman

You could probably be doing something better with your life, you know. Most people doing a PhD are a pretty effective combination of intelligent and driven. You almost certainly got a 1 st or a 2:1 in a bachelor’s degree, probably a masters. Someone with this profile could certainly find a career with a starting salary above the RCUK minimum stipend level of £15,285 a year, likely one with a much more concrete future ahead of them as well. For most people it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do a PhD; it’s a huge investment of time and energy directed towards a very specialised end. But there are plenty of good reasons to do one as well and if you’re currently working on a PhD you are probably (I sincerely hope) aware of one of the main ones: it’s fun. It really can be fun, at least for a very peculiar type of person. But, of course, it’s not a particularly normal idea of fun. Most people have had their fill of learning by the end of school, or at most university, and it can sometimes be tough convincing a partner or family member that this genuinely is what you enjoy, despite the dark rings they’ve noticed forming under your eyes.

Keiko would probably understand. She feels a very similar way. Not about PhDs or learning, making novel discoveries, or changing the world for the better; but she does feel a very similar way about her work in a convenience store. She enjoys everything about the convenience store, from the artificial 24/7 light to the starchy slightly ill-fitting uniforms, it provides her with enough money for rent and food and she wants for little else. Murata presents us with a tender and often hilarious portrait of a woman attempting to claim agency over her own, unique way of living, and convince others of the simple joy it brings her. If the average PhD student is twice as strange as your typical person, then as a PhD student you have twice as much reason to follow this proudly comforting story of an atypical person and her atypical interest.

Viktor Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning

Suffering is relative. It is certain that I will struggle with my PhD. I am still in the early days of my studies, but I am aware that studying for a PhD is likely going to be the hardest thing I have done with my life so far. In all the interviews I had for various funding schemes and DTPs, not one failed to ask a question that amounted to: “How will you cope?”. But at its worst my PhD still won’t cause me to suffer nearly as much as Viktor Frankl did. Don’t think I’m recommending this book to remind you to ‘count yourself lucky’, or any similar nonsense; Frankl isn’t concerned with pity, or one upping your struggles, he just wants you to feel fulfilled, even in the worst moments when nothing’s going right and you’re starting to doubt if you’re even capable of completing a PhD.

The first half of ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ is a stark, sometimes unpleasant autobiographical account of Frankl’s time imprisoned in various Nazi concentration camps. But the difficulty of the subject matter is worth it for the fascinatingly unique perspective of the author: Viktor Frankl was one of the 20 th Century’s foremost neurologists. The first-hand experience of one of Europe’s blackest events – viewed through the lens of a Jewish psychiatrist – could quite easily paint a rather bleak and hopeless image of humanity. This, however, is not the case. Instead, Frankl uses the second half of the book to explain in layman’s terms the psychological basis behind his biggest contribution to his field: Logotherapy. Frankl emerges from the immense suffering of the holocaust to clearly and kindly encourage us to find meaning and joy in all parts of life. Far from being a depressing read ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ is instead likely to leave you feeling inspired, cared for, and capable of getting through whatever nonsensical data, failed experiments, and frustrating failures your PhD might throw at you.

John Ratey – Spark!

We’ve all had times in our lives when we felt that we couldn’t afford to exercise, when life is just so overwhelmingly occupied, there’s too many important things going on. At some points in your PhD, when you feel too busy to take a break, see friends, or cook a proper dinner, having a go at the ‘Couch to 5k’ certainly doesn’t look like it’ll be getting any of your valuable hours any time soon. But after several decades of researching the human brain, Professor John Ratey is here to argue that you can’t afford not to exercise.

I’m sure it isn’t a great revelation to you that exercise is vital for your physical health, but ‘Spark!’ instead implores us to think of exercise as an essential activity for our brain. With an abundance of examples from modern publications in psychiatry and neuroscience, Ratey explains the effects of regular exercise on the human brain. Better memory, improved problem solving, better pattern recognition, longer periods of focus, reduced procrastination and improved mood; I struggle to believe there’s a single human being who would not benefit from every one of these and the countless other benefits discussed throughout the book. But for PhD students, whose work is especially dependent on the functioning of their brain, the effects are potentially even more transformative. You wouldn’t dream of mistreating the expensive lab microscope. You’d never work with equipment that had been left dysfunctional due to lack of care: why treat your own brain any differently?

Hermann Hesse – The Glass Bead Game

PhD students are students. Sometimes this is painfully clear, sometimes it is easy to forget. But nevertheless, learning is at the centre of a PhD and learning is a two way-street. There is no learning without teaching, even if the learner and the teacher are the same person. ‘The Glass Bead Game’ is a novel about learning and teaching, it is a realistic portrait of two sides of the same coin, simultaneously superimposed upon one another.

The story takes place in an imaginary European province in which experts, scientists, scholars, and philosophers are allotted unlimited resources and are permitted to follow any interest or whim to their heart’s content. In many ways this place may sound utopian compared to the current state of academia, so ruthless in its limitation of funding, and so stringent in its selection processes. Yet this is not a utopian novel. But neither is it a dystopian one. Hesse somehow manages to create a world that feels genuine and authentic, despite its fantastical premise. Though he uses the extreme concept of a country entirely focused on pedagogy to explore the nature of learning, this extremity never becomes fanciful with regards to the positives and negatives of such a way of living. Rather than leaving the reader with a melancholic longing for a fantasy world where the streets are paved with postdoc positions, the realism of ‘The Glass Bead Game’ is more likely to help you find a balanced appreciation for life in academia, better able to accept it’s many blemishes, and in doing so more able to appreciate it’s many joys.

Plato – The Last Days of Socrates

A PhD is a doctor of philosophy. As PhD students we are all therefore philosophers-in-training. We are learning how to ask precise questions, and how to answer them in a convincing, conclusive manner. We are learning to fully understand the nature of evidence and proof, to recognise when something is proved and when it is not. The word itself comes from the Greek ‘philos’ (loving) and ‘sophia’ (wisdom), an apt description of anyone willing to spend several years of their life researching one extremely niche topic that few others know or care about.

Although the Classical philosophers arrived long before any concept of scientific method, and they often came to some conclusions that now seem laughable, a small understanding of their world can do a lot for any 21st century philosopher. This book in itself won’t come to any ground breaking conclusions that haven’t been long since disproved, or better communicated, but it’s place in this list is earned as an essential introduction to the history of asking questions. At a time in which more and more people are recoiling from the influence of experts, this story of a man being put on trial for asking too many questions remains as relevant as it was 2,000 years ago. And ultimately, this book would still earn its spot on this list solely as the source of the famous scene in which Socrates insists that the only reason the Oracle named him the wisest of the Greeks, was because he alone amongst the Greeks knows that he knows nothing – a statement that may haunt and comfort any PhD student, depending on the day.

Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass

Perhaps you’re wondering how a book of 19 th Century poetry is going to help you be a better PhD student. Unlike the other entries on this list, I will make no claim to its ability to help you think better, nor will it help you ask better questions, nor make you feel more justified in your choice of career path. ‘Leaves of Grass’ will not help you be a better PhD student in any way, because you are not a PhD student, you are a human being, and that’s enough. Not only is that enough, that’s everything. To Walt Whitman there’s nothing more you can be. It is quite easy for your view of the world (and therefore your place in it) to become narrowed. You spend all day working on your PhD. All, or most of your colleagues are doing the same, perhaps many of your friends as well. But your PhD is not your life. The success or failure of your research is not you. The accumulation of three Latin characters at the end of your name is not an indication of value. If you are to read any of the books that I have recommended here make it this one and there will be no problem over the coming years that you will not be prepared for, not because it will guarantee your success, but because it will assure you that whilst there are trees and birds and stars and sunlight there doesn’t need to be anything more – anything else that comes out of each day is a welcome (but unnecessary) add-on. Whatever happens during your PhD, whether your thesis changes the world, or all your plans come to nothing, or you drop out halfway through, or you take ten years to finish. Just be you, be alive, be human, and know that that’s more than enough.

Published by Alex Wakeman

View all posts by Alex Wakeman

Reading for Graduate School

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Many new graduate students find themselves assigned much more reading than they ever had to do in their previous schooling. In some fields, the amount might be similar, but the type and difficulty may increase significantly. One of the best ways to be successful in graduate school, both in terms of doing well in coursework and in terms of preparing yourself to be a scholar, is to learn to read strategically.

Reading for Classes

When you read for your classes, your professors may assign you more reading than they actually expect you to complete, at least word-for-word. Typically this will include both material from textbooks or scholarly monographs and articles from scholarly journals. In American academic contexts, these texts are usually organized in a fairly consistent structure, with the main ideas frontloaded in the introduction and backloaded in the conclusion. Rather than expecting you to read the entire article cover to cover, for instance, most professors read articles by reading the abstract and introduction, reading the discussion, and then looking for important information in the middle sections (literature review, methods, results). This may vary somewhat by field, but in general scholars do not read texts linearly; instead, they read strategically, looking first for main ideas and then looking for information that would support or refute those main ideas in the middle sections. You can use these same strategies when you read texts for coursework, so that you can cover more ground in a reasonable time and so that you can glean the most out of the texts as you take notes in preparation for class.

Part of doing reading for class is gaining an understanding of the scholarly conversations in your field. One strategy you can use to make this easier for yourself is to make a list, database, or other chart that tracks the source of the readings (are they monographs from a particular press, are they articles from a particular journal or set of journals?) and the common sources in the bibliographies (which authors and texts appear regularly?). Over time, this information will help you find the journals and presses you like to read from, and will help give you an idea of which texts and authors are foundational for your field or research area (and which you therefore need to perhaps read more carefully). This is not to say that texts from other authors, journals, or presses are not valuable; it can be just as revealing to ask yourself why these common publication venues and authors are so often used, and what gaps in the literature are not addressed by these common texts.

Reading for Research

Becoming a scholar in a particular field usually means having a good grasp of the literature in the field. You don't need to read every journal, but scholars typically keep abreast of new research and know older research well in the areas where they work, plus adjacent areas that might speak to their work. For instance, a scholar in Technical and Professional Communication who researches rhetoric and communication in engineering settings might read titles and abstracts in the major journals in their field, but only read articles that have to do with engineering, engineering education, and workplace communication.

Reading for research follows a similar process to the strategic reading you might do for class (described above), but goes deeper on texts that are useful for your research topics. You might also write on these texts after reading in a more detailed way than your typical note-taking process; for texts that you might cite in your work, writing a short annotated bibliography entry may be more helpful for you later on than a set of notes.

One key strategy in reading for research is to identify what specifically about the text is useful for you. Is it the topic? The research questions? The approach, the methods? You can then focus your reading, note-taking, and writing more heavily in those areas.

It's also a good idea to start using a citation manager early and often when you read for research. A good citation management software can help you organize your resources, more easily find sources you already read and need to retrieve, and even track your own publications for easy retrieval.

Reading for Genre Mastery

Learning to write in the various genres required in graduate school and in academia often involves a great deal of reading examples. It's important to analyze examples systematically so that you can quickly understand what a genre asks you to do. Some key features to look for include:

Sections/Organization — how is the document broken up? What goes in each area?
Rhetorical Moves — how does the author understand their audience, purpose, and context? What strategies do they use?
Paragraphing — how long is the typical paragraph? What information do most paragraphs contain and how are they organized?
Style — what does a typical sentence look like? What is the language and vocabulary like?

The OWL has a vidcast and several handouts to help with genre analysis and reverse outlining here.

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PhD by Publication – Explained
Types of Doctorates

Introduction

Obtaining a PhD by publication is relatively uncommon in higher education. It can, however, be especially useful for established researchers who have published work but don’t yet have a PhD. This article gives information on exactly what a PhD by publication is, how it works and what the advantages and disadvantages are. Read on to learn more.

What is a PhD by Publication?

A PhD by publication is a doctoral degree awarded to a person who has several peer-reviewed publications that have been put together as separate ‘chapters’, contributing to a unified research theme within a specific field.

This format typically consists of a significant introductory chapter, up to 10,000 words, similar to a traditional thesis, followed by around five published research papers and a final chapter to bring things to a conclusion. Although these papers will be separate bodies of work, it’s important that they’re connected along one research theme.

This route to PhD can be attractive to researchers that have published a lot in their academic career but have not followed the traditional PhD path. It helps them gain recognition for their contributions to their research field and recognition that the work they have done has been of a doctoral level without having to write a separate PhD thesis.

A PhD by publication is awarded following a viva (also known as an oral examination) with examiners, similar to the process of a traditional PhD.

What are the Advantages?

A clear advantage of a PhD by publication is that you’re submitting a portfolio of work that has already gone through extensive peer review. This means that by the time you come to defend your work at a viva, it’s much easier. For example, the questions your examiners may ask you could be very similar to the questions you were asked by your reviewers during your paper publication phase and so you will already have prepared suitable responses to these.

Another advantage of this route is that it’s a much quicker way of obtaining a PhD degree; traditional PhD programmes take between three and four years from registration to completion whereas you can get a PhD by publication within one year of registration with the University, assuming that you enrol on this degree having already published all the papers that you will include in your portfolio of work. The shorter duration means that you often will only have to pay for one year of University fees, meaning that this approach is cheaper than a traditional method. It’s often possible that you can work any part-time job alongside preparing your publication portfolio for viva examination submission.

What are the Disadvantages?

Not all research fields or questions are suitable for a PhD by publication. In some cases, it may be necessary to design, set up and run a new PhD project in the field, recording the generation of further data. Additionally, it may be difficult to expand upon your previous publications and explore different research ideas as you put together your portfolio of papers. As this approach is a relatively uncommon way to get a PhD, some institutions may be unfamiliar or not set up to facilitate a PhD by publication. While the final viva examination will be the same as that in a traditional PhD, there is always the risk that some examiners may not see this publication route as being a ‘real’ PhD.

You’re also likely to miss out on some other aspects of PhD life by going down the publication route, including opportunities to teach or supervise undergraduate students and the experience of working within a research lab alongside other PhD students.

How Long Does a PhD by Publication Take?

You should expect a PhD by publication to take six months to one year to obtain from your point of registration with a UK University. This is on the basis that you have already published work for all the material that you would plan to include within your PhD portfolio, or that it is currently going through the review process. This approach is shorter than pursuing a traditional PhD, which typically takes between three and four years as a full-time student.

What is the Application Process?

You apply using the standard process required by the university to enrol, in the same way as the traditional route of a PhD. In addition, however, you will be asked to submit a portfolio of your prior publication track record and a supporting statement outlining the work of these existing publications, detailing how they tell a coherent story with the relevant subject area you’re applying to. You won’t need to submit a formal PhD research proposal as most, if not all, of the research should already have been completed.

Do you have Supervision?

Yes, in the same way that a traditional PhD student will have a primary supervisor to oversee your project. The role of the supervisor will be to help you establish a clear narrative for the theme you’re putting together of your publications, offering critical appraisal where necessary.

He or she will advise you on how to structure the introductory and concluding bodies of work that are required before you submit your portfolio for external examination and viva. Remember that the supervisor is there to advise and not tell you how to structure your dissertation; this is the same for any research student doing a standard PhD.

With this researcher-supervisor relationship, your options may be open in terms of whether you need to be based at the University in person or if you choose to work remotely as a distance learning student, communicating with your supervisor over email or video calls.

How does Assessment Work?

The body of work that you submit will be read and assessed by two examiners that are experts within your subject area of research. This will be followed by the viva examination with the two examiners, in line with the conventional PhD approach. To be awarded this research degree you will need to demonstrate that your work has made an original contribution to furthering the subject knowledge within your field.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

How Much Does It Cost?

As a PhD by publication usually takes about a year to complete, most universities typically charge a fee equivalent to one year of PhD study. The exact amount will vary depending on the University, but usually, the tuition fee will be around £4,500 for one year for UK and EU students, and considerably more if you are an international student. It’s challenging to secure funding for these types of PhD degrees and you will find that you’re unlikely to be eligible for financial support from research councils or other routes of funding.

What Kind of Publications Can I use in my Portfolio?

Universities will have specific guidance about factors such as how many publications you can include in your portfolio and there may be some restrictions on when they should have been published. Typically, you will include 5 publications in your submission to your PhD examiners, but this can in some circumstances be as low as 3 or 4 or as high as 10 separate papers. Most often these will be in the form of journal articles accepted by peer reviewed journals but can also include published book chapters, scientific or technical reports that have been published or other forms of publication that have gone through a level of peer review.

A PhD by publication is a good way for you to graduate with a doctorate if you enter this research programme having already published several academic papers on a single research theme. You need to demonstrate that you have made a significant contribution to your field through previous research. At this stage it is likely to be the cheapest and fastest route to gaining a PhD. However, applicants should be mindful when they apply that it may be challenging to secure funding for this.

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How Many Books Does the Average Person Read?

George R. R Martin once said readers relive thousands of lives reading, while non-readers only live once. Americans have varied reading habits across different demographics. Some prefer to flip the pages, others listen to audiobooks, and for some, scrolling through an e-book is okay.

We’ll tell you how many books you can read annually and in your lifetime in this post. We will disaggregate book readership based on age, sex, and education. Further, we shall explore current trends in the reading world and seek to understand why Americans are reading fewer books.

How many books have you read in the last year?

The Pew Research Center released their latest data on American reading habits , and the results show some interesting — and somewhat surprising — trends. Roughly 72 percent of American adults read a book in 2015, continuing a gradual decline over the last 5 years (from 79 percent in 2011). The figure now stands at 75 percent, according to the recent statistics released by Pew Research Center.

However, these stats include people who reported reading “one book…in part,” so it’s unclear how many made it all the way through.

The average number of books each person read over the course of a year was 12, but the most avid readers inflate that number. The most frequently reported number was 4 books per year. Of course, there’s plenty of variation among demographics. Certain groups read more, or less, than the country as a whole. Here’s what the data showed:

Educated, affluent women read the most

Women tend to read more than men. About 77 percent of American women read a book in 2015, compared with 67 percent of American guys. Also, the average woman read 14 books in 12 months, while the average man read only 9. Across both genders, readership also went up with education and income.

About 90 percent of college grads read at least one book a year, compared to 34 percent of people who haven’t finished high school. Also, the more money they earned, the likelier they were to be readers. It’s hard to say whether education and income are causes of this trend since people who go to college probably grow up reading more anyway, and income correlates with education. But the bottom line is that educated, high-earning women sit atop the reading pyramid in America.

Older people read less

One notable aspect of the data is that people tend to read less as they age. Fully 80 percent of 18–29-year-olds reported reading at least one book, compared to 69 percent of seniors (65+).

Americans don’t read as much as most other countries

Oh no! The ugly truth is that Americans as a whole lag behind most of the rest of the world when it comes to reading books. Are we too busy playing Candy Crush or posting on Facebook and Twitter to crack an actual paper spine? Maybe.

The map below, reprinted in The Paris Review, shows that Indian people actually spend the most time in-between pages, followed closely by the Thai and Chinese. Americans are slackers compared to these countries, spending just a little more than half the time reading that our Indian counterparts do.

how many books does the average person read country by country statistics

CEOs tend to be voracious readers

Outside of the Pew study, we also looked for stats on how much the average CEO reads. It was hard to locate a formal study, but anecdotal evidence suggests that executives read 4–5 books per month, far outpacing the general population. As for what they’re reading, it’s not all motivational or business-themed: many top CEOs also reported reading novels, plays, and philosophy. Check out what some specific big names are consuming with this info-graphic .

Current trends in the reading world: ebooks and audiobooks

Americans still prefer print to other book forms, and more than two-thirds of Americans admit to reading a book in print, audio, or electronic. E-book readers grew in popularity, from 25% to 30%, while Americans who listened to audiobooks were 23%. Looks like the habit of reading e-books is picking.

Understanding the decline in book readership

Book readership among Americans is declining . The 6% number of Americans who loved passing the time reading a book is the lowest ever since Gallup started surveying book readership. The least rate was 10%.

Subgroups that were avid readers are now reading fewer books. Comparing 2021 stats with 2002 to 2016, women dropped from 19.3% to 15.7%. Americans above 55 are also reading fewer books, 9.5% down from 10.8%. College students reported the most significant book readership drop, from 21.1% to 14.6%.

Researchers should do more studies to ascertain why Americans are reading less, noting that book readership decline has nothing to do with Americans not reading any book-17% (Gallup) or 23% (Pew Research Centre).

Perhaps the love for other sources of entertainment has grown, or maybe Americans have no time to read, or maybe they have lost interest in books.

Perhaps worries about COVID 19 led fewer people to visit libraries and bookstores. Still, Americans could have books delivered to their doorstep or download e-books and audiobooks. So, book access is not that much of an issue. In fact, print book sales increased by 9% in 2021.

How many books does the average person read during their lifetime?

The average reader will complete 12 books in a year. If the life expectancy is 86 for females and 82 for males, and the proper reading age 25 years, Literary Hub notes that the average number of books read in a lifetime is 735 for females and 684 for males.

How much do you read?

If you’re an educated, young female CEO, the data says you’re probably reading something right now! If not, you can always hit your local library or bookstore to find something to sink your teeth into.

Most people have read no more than 6 of these beloved books despite them being classics. It’s never too late to reinvest in reading, and there’s a good chance you’ll become a more interesting person as a result. For research-proven techniques and strategies on how to read faster (and remember more of what you read), check out an Iris Reading course online or in your city. Happy reading!

More Resources:

Attend a live speed-reading course in your city
Register for an online speed-reading course

Thomas Whittington

Thomas Whittington is an instructor with Iris Reading. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005 despite being a painfully slow reader. In 2008, he took an Iris course and, with practice, dramatically improved his reading speed. Hey, better late than never! Thomas' other interests include acting, comedy, and the Chicago Cubs.

I am a child and I have read 21 300-500 page books most being fiction or historical fiction. Reading 14 hours a week and finishing 2-3 books per week. I read about 2-4 hours everyday. I have read many more advanced novels like Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables and Jane Eyre. I also write and draw for about 1 hour each day and switching everyday between writing for 1 hour and drawing for 1 hour. I also have a very large vocabulary.

Feather, be sure to relax your eyes between bouts of reading/drawing/close work by going outdoors and looking OUT–AWAY–down a DISTANCE. You want to keep your eyes flexible and not become needful of strong glasses. Eyes need relief and they need exercise just as our other muscles and organs do. :-)

I read about 10 books per month. They range in page size from 350 to 700 pages. I am disabled and stuck in the prone position most days, thus the *time* to read that many books. I take this wonderful time to read as a reward for so much back pain, surgeries, and loss of other activities. This time is a blessing so I am grateful to get to go on so many adventures without leaving my bed. Note: my favorite prose format is audiobook, but I do read kindle and physical books. I buy the physical books if I have re-listened to a particular book at least 3x as I love it so much I want it in my physical library for the day the internet crashes and never reboots, haha. Happy reading everyone, and may so many more people discover the joy of reading. P.S. Davian Porter is the best female narrator, and Phil Gigante is the best male narrator. Of. All. Time.!

Marsha Turner

Dear Alina,

I commend you for finding joy in your life through reading in spite of your physical challenges. You’re not pitying yourself but creating your own happiness. Continue on those wondrous adventures!😀

HAAHAHAHHAHAHHA…. This is making me laugh big. Whether you are right or wrong I can’t avoid the humor in it.

Alek Sander

I’m sensing more sadness than humor.

Natheer Abdulsalam

In my point of view reading a great book that changes your way of thinking (which leads you success) is much better than reading a thousand books without leaving any impact on you.

Daniel Malloy

CEOs should spend more time running their companies

I have worked with CEOs and executives at a number of Fortune 500 companies and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them were avid readers. Interesting how all of them shared that in common. No one gets to that level unless they’re getting some purposeful reading done each day.

My daughter is an major reader she averages 3-4 books a day by her choice I love the fact she enjoys it so much and I am glad I encouraged her from a baby to now she is 9 and I don’t mean the little books the smallest book she read this week was 350 pages and no pictures

You can ‘ramp up’ the enjoyment — and make reading an interactive event — by reading novels / stories aloud. Even slow-ish stories become interesting when they’re read aloud. And it makes ‘chore-time’ a lot easier: read while your listeners are: doing dishes, pulling dandelions, folding clothes, dusting, or even just sitting at table after dinner. (Or during a long car ride) A chapter a day keeps the adventure rolling and the interest keen. Try it:

Book reading is a very good habit, reading books creates cognitive engagement that improves lots of things in life that’s why a successful person spends a lot of time reading books.

I have always loved reading, but read more when I was a child than now, as today everyday commitments does not leave me with a lot of time to read – and yes, I do have other hobbies, too.

If you count books you are not fair, because one reads a doorstopper like the complete Gormenghast trilogy (1172 pages) or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (782), while another reads a crime novel which hardly ever excel 350 pages. Both, the doorstopper reader and the crime novel reader have read ONE book. But the former has read double or even thrice the amount the latter has read.

That is why counting in book numbers is not fair to readers. Not that I say any of those bigger ones are more valuable, just that the number of pages would be a fairer assessment.

Hi Fran – I absolutely agree. The number of pages is more of an apples-to-apples comparison. And then there is quality vs. quantity. I’d rather reading one very good book, then 5 terrible ones.

I think the statistic for India might have to do with just reading, not reading books specifically, though I may be wrong. People in India very avidly read newspapers daily. This is why I have a tinge of doubt.

Ha I’ve read almost 300 since the beginning of the school year.

In the last six months, I’ve read about 500-700 physical copy novels.

I read 3-12 hours a day ??‍♂️

It’s April right now, and I’ve read at least twelve books so far this year, at least eight of which were novel length, meaning over 50,000 words. (The longest one was 144,000 words.) This is not counting school textbooks.

I think novels are great and I hate it when people say they are not useful to read. I tend to read historical fiction novels, which make history stick in your head better than the textbooks in my opinion, and classics such as the works of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, etc. I choose the novels I read carefully and try to find ones that expand my world view and ones with inspiring characters who make me want to be a better person. Novels are great for getting people started who hate reading. Just let it be a worthwhile one cause there are plenty of trashy novels, there are just plenty of great ones too. :)

Why has reading become a pissing contest? And should it not be quality over quantity? If i read 20 books this year i’ll be happy as i have other interests and hobbies as well.

Hardly surprising to see the UK near the bottom of the list. They’d rather be in the sports bar. Might explain the Brexit result.

Nah. British people are busy writing the novels that the rest of the world reads, as well as great comedy, and doing Nobel prize-winning research. The UK has several universities in the world top ten; the rest of Europe — none. Brexit will be great because Britain excels all other EU countries in every way that matters.

Kevin Kordes

I’m not surprised at all seeing Thailand in the #2 position. I I spent 8 years in Thailand teaching ESL and studying the Thai language which is the most fascinating language that I have ever studied. It has a 44 consonant, non-Roman alphabet and 33 complex vowel sounds but it is almost completely phonic in its orthography. Reading Thai is a visual pleasure and one can see Thais reading in public wherever you go. Thai libraries have books that are dog-eared from countless readings. And when the library chairs are full one can see dozens of people sitting on the floor with their backs to the walls reading books. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the same in the USA? Sadly, that is not the case.

Kyle of Oostburg

Okay, so its decided, we here all read. Now then, how many books does the average person write?

I read 31 books last year, but also re-read some of them.. Any more than that and I don’t feel as if I can absorb it.. Especially for self help and business books.

Speed reading is all about efficiency and purposeful reading. I prefer quality over quantity and when applying the techniques in my business books, personal development and self-help, I find ways to implement the principles in real life application to absorb the information more effectively. Sounds like you could benefit from some note-taking strategies and memory techniques .

I can read ebooks faster than paper books. It is easier to highlight and copy good sentences

I don’t feel cormfortable reading fiction books and my friends say non fiction books are boring.

Screw them, non-fiction books are amazing.

I always find it so depressing to read statistics such as these. I am currently working on a project about reading trends and associations with age, and I never knew people who don’t read existed. I, for one, read 250 to 300 books a year, and I am still astonished that most of my participants read only one to ten books a year. Reading as a pastime is entertaining, I swear. Go to the library when you have some free time, you won’t regret it.

Wait did you say you read 300 books a year ? Is that a joke or did I get something wrong ? Cause that’s impossible if the books aren’t terribly small.

last year in 9th grade i read 20 books. this year, i’m up to 67 books.

I am a books worm. I am trying ot figure out how many people read non fiction books in the US. I can’t find any straight results on google. But now when I look at this, I almost cry.

Yes, Lilly… It is indeed a sad statistic. Many people don’t learn how to apply speed reading and memory techniques to their required daily reading until they are already overwhelmed with the intensive amounts of new information that they need to keep up with. Some people look at reading as a laborious task, but the concepts & techniques can make reading a lot more fluid and effortless.

I read one book a year and i think it’s enough for me

What percentage of people have never read a book? How many of them have Masters/PhD’s? I have never read a book in my life. I am severely dyslexic. I was drawn to this article because I have a Masters Degree and am planning on writing my story about what it has been like for me suffering through and succeeding in the public education system. I have been blessed with a few teachers that have excepted my 4th grade reading level and helped to focus on the things I am good at.

It’s confusing for the countries as it seems the less you read the smarter nation you become.

There must be something not right with the survey. We need to know the type of data sampling collected from.

Is that only the university kids or random people on the street? Did we collect the random data from all across the country or selected regions etc?

I think books are important because they take you into a world of imagination. Reading has given me ideas and took me into a world of imagination. when I was younger I never really liked reading that stopped at third grade. When my school’s librarian recommended that I read the lightning thief I decided to give it a try, and when I started reading I could never stop and I finished The book series by the end of third grade ( I joined a new school after winter break ). Since then I have always had a love for reading books, and books are something which makes you always want to read more Even if you’re not into books.

Just started reading last year. Last year I managed to read 17 books. 9 non-fiction and 8 fiction. I would just like to note that most of the books in that list of classics are trash that are not worth your time, much like my 8 books of fiction one of which was on that list. Most of these books have movies that will consume far less of your time leaving you time to go read books of importance such as books on finance.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy reading trash as much as any one else (hence the 8 books of fiction.) But it is important to recognize that your reading trash and try to read more books of importance.

I read on the average 5 books a week. And no, they are not pocket books, they are novels. I awaken around 4 a.m. and read until 9 a.m. and again in the evening for 2 or 3 hours. I don’t watch t.v. , play on a computer or other electronic devices plus I am a fast reader. I make good use of the library however, I do purchase used books and donate them to the cancer center.

I can’t believe how much people are reading! I only read one book a year or even less I think I should get a life?!

I read around 25-30 books a year. I also read slower and take a lot of notes from each book I read. Got people here reading 100s, I’ll probably never get to that much per year

Clint Westwood

lol everyone is flexing their reading skillz. I read so many books that my fingers look like edward scissorhand’s face from all the paper cuts that I get from reading so many books. just too many books.

Read e books ?

I read around 150-200 books a year. I am a big book worm so whenever you see me I usually have a book in my hand. Plus I am a fast reader so that really helps.

And plus I am only in the 9th grade so I have alot of free time!!

I read probably around 80 books a year. Allot of them have a 250,000+ word count, some are 350,000+ words. I read probably 1-2 hours a day only because I’m a college student and full time worker that doesn’t have allot of extra time. I also listen to some books here and there when I am driving or mowing the lawn.

Since I’m reading this article, you got it, I’m a voracious reader. Typically 100-120 a year, I spread my reading material across all genres and love it all. Right now I’m chomping at the bit to get back to a book. And if you’re counting its physical over electronic.

Are you all reading physical books or ebooks? Also how many of those physical books do you still have? What do you do with the book after you have already read it?

Probably read 10 to 15 per year, 20 absolute max. Subject matter and book length for sure help determine averages. Unfortunately, books more academically inclined the more pages one will usually encounter. Not exactly fast, easy reading even if enjoyable. Any of you fellow History or English majors out there can certainly relate : )

Since July of 2013 I have read 940 books. My goal is 1000 books in 4 years. Luckily I am now retired so that will help me reach my goal?

Stephanie V.

12 books a year???? That’s like a low month reading for me! I usually read 120-170 books per year, and this year alone I’m up to 45 books read in my goodreads challenge.

Good lord. I’m already 53 books into my Goodreads challenge for 250 books this year. And that’s actually down from last year! I’m trying not to read as many as I did in 2016.

You must read really small books. Because at March 14th of this year there were only like 74 days in the year. Which means you claimed to have read about 3/4 of a book a day.

One of the smallest books I have read this year was only 380 pages, and had 120,000 words. At above average reading speed you would need about 8 hours of above average reading speed to complete it. So with your 3/4 a book a day you would need to read 6 hours a day to read 53 books that were 120,000 words each in 74 days. Im a college student, and full time worker, so I have maybe an hour or 2 a day I can read. How does someone have 6 hours a day to read books? And why are all of your books so short? Most books I have read this year are in the 250,000+ word count, some are 350,000+ words(Shadow Rising, Fires of Heaven, Lords of Chaos). A 250,000 word book would take an above average reader about 17 hours of straight reading at an above average speed to complete.

So either you are a hermit that reads medium size books every day, or you count recipes as books.

I read 60-120 books a year…

I just cross 50 and now i just found out the important of reading :-(. But I read to enhance myself and to influence and help others. Since that all these ppl reading like crazy and for longer time. may I ask how has all these reading affect and help you with your life, how about others? I want to know so I can encourage other to read.. Does novel help??

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RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones

Nastaran Nagshineh is shown with other faculty in a small room where she defended her thesis.

Nastaran Nagshineh, center, defended her Ph.D. thesis at RIT in April. Faculty from RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses served on her thesis committee and include, from left to right, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Steven Weinstein, Nathaniel Barlow, and David Kofke (a professor at the University at Buffalo). Mohamed Samaha participated remotely and appears on the video screen behind the group and alongside Nagshineh’s picture.

Nastaran Nagshineh is one of the first Ph.D. candidates to bridge RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses. Her accomplishment creates a path for future students at the university’s international campuses.

Nagshineh completed her Ph.D. in mathematical modeling while working full time as a mathematics lecturer at RIT Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, teaching as many as five classes a semester. She described her Ph.D. journey as “an exercise in perseverance” due to competing demands and long days. Rochester is eight hours behind Dubai, and the time difference meant many late-night classes and meetings.

“I saw this collaboration as an opportunity, rather than as a challenge, because my primary adviser, Dr. Steven Weinstein (RIT professor of chemical engineering), and my co-adviser, Dr. Mohamed Samaha (RIT Dubai associate professor of mechanical engineering), both have the same area of research interest,” she said. “They both worked toward my success.”

Nagshineh is one of 67 RIT Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate. RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023.

In 2020-2021, RIT’s Graduate School met and surpassed the university’s goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski , dean of RIT’s Graduate School.

Meeting these goals puts RIT on a path toward achieving an “R1,” or research-intensive designation, from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning. RIT is currently ranked as an R2 institution . Many factors go into changing a university’s status, including research investment and maintaining a three-year average of 70 Ph.D. degrees awarded per year, according to Slusarski.

“We have met the goals of the strategic plan, and now we look forward to contributing to the research innovation in the future,” Slusarski said. “We want to help the new programs thrive and win national research awards.”

RIT’s emphasis on high-level research is seen in Nagshineh’s Ph.D. work. She applies mathematical modeling to the field of fluid dynamics. Her research has been published in top-tier journals and has gained notice, said Weinstein, her thesis adviser.

Weinstein describes Nagshineh’s accomplishments as “a testament to a fantastic work ethic and commitment” and is inspirational to younger students at Rochester and Dubai.

“The collaboration between RIT Dubai/Rochester has continued,” he said. “Another paper was submitted a few weeks ago with Mohamed Samaha and Nate Barlow (RIT associate professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics) as co-authors, as well as Cade Reinberger, a younger Ph.D. student in my research group.”

Mathematical modeling is one of RIT’s newer Ph.D. degree programs, and Nagshineh is among its earliest graduates. The program has doubled in size since it began accepting students in 2017, Slusarski said. This past fall, the mathematical modeling program had 35 students, with two graduating this year.

Altogether, RIT has 13 Ph.D. degree programs currently enrolling 438 students, with computing and information sciences accounting for the largest with 117 students. RIT’s other Ph.D. programs include astrophysical sciences and technology , biomedical and chemical engineering , business administration , color science , electrical and computer engineering, imaging science , mechanical and industrial engineering , microsystems engineering , and sustainability .

New programs in cognitive science and physics will launch in the fall.

The growth in RIT graduate education—with more than 3,000 master’s and doctoral students—reflects a demographic change in the student population, Slusarski said. “We have a higher percentage of women in the graduate programs than we have for RIT undergraduate programs.”

RIT’s graduate programs enroll 42 percent women, according to Christie Leone , assistant dean for the Graduate School.

Nagshineh, who also holds an MS in electrical engineering from RIT Dubai, welcomes her role as a mentor to other women students on both campuses.

“As a young woman in an Arabic country, the power of women is often underestimated and undervalued, and I hope to serve as a role model to female students, especially those that question their path,” Nagshineh said.

She plans to continue in her career as a professor and a researcher. “I would like to pursue a research program where I can advise my own students and teach them more deeply.”

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COMMENTS

Am I reading enough of the scientific literature? Should I read for
I have read many papers to understand how the authors solved their problems. ... which grew out of advising/supervising PhD students and post-docs: reading for depth is a job requirement, ... which papers and books you should be reading. Personally, I've slogged through many manuscripts mired in myopia before encountering enlightened, engaging ...
How Much I Read Every Month During My PhD
Across other disciplines, there are vastly different norms about how much people read, and how long the things are that people read. In total, I read 975 items during my PhD. At first glance, this ...
How many sources are enough? Six questions on breadth and depth of
Here's my totally non-scientific take for coursework-related materials: a final research paper should at least use 13 additional sources to those in the syllabus (one additional paper per week) for an undergraduate class, and an in-depth literature review for a graduate course should be in the realm of 26 (2 additional papers per week) to 39 ...
How to Read Like a Graduate Student
Pay attention to text format. Take a glance at bold and italicized text because these are almost certainly going to appear on the exam or discussed during class. Pay attention to things that stand out, and write those down. Highlight or take notes. Never read anything without a highlighter and pencil nearby.
10 Reading Strategies for PhD Students To Improve Long-Term
Everyone's PhD is different, but one aspect of this academic journey is a constant: There is a lot to read. No matter the discipline, there are always hundreds of articles, books, and other media that are relevant to your research - and even more literature that is not.
How many pages per week should I expect to read?
Assigned reading. In my experience, the assigned readings varied greatly by the type of class. At the upper end, in terms of pages, courses in social history tended to have each week a monograph and up to six or seven articles so that one could get a sense of the historiographical debate in which the monograph is situated.
PDF Sink or Skim?: Top Ten Tips for Reading in Grad School
One effective way is to work in 45-minute blocks. Beginning on the hour (for example 9 a.m.) work (read, write, etc.) for 45 minutes without interruption - no phone, no internet, no email, no TV. At 9:45, take a 15 minute break to do whatever you want. At 10 a.m., repeat with another 45 minute work block.
Recommended Reading
Patrick Gallagher and Ashleigh Gallagher, The Portable PhD: Taking Your Psychology Career Beyond Academia (2020) From the description: "Each chapter in this book offers tips and key terms for navigating various kinds of employment, as well as simple action steps for communicating your talents to hiring managers.
5 must-reads for doctoral students
Reading some expert guide books will expand your knowledge and pave the way for the rigorous work ahead. Capella University faculty, doctoral students, and alumni recommend these five books for doctoral students in any discipline. 1. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler.
Reflections on a PhD in Literature: The Basics
Since this is a blog about books and reading, I wanted to reflect a bit on what getting a PhD in literature looks like and feels like. First, the basic structure. Every doctoral program in literature is structured a little differently, but all are split into two periods, coursework and the dissertation. In the first two to three years you're ...
The 7 Books Every PhD Student Should Read
By Alex Wakeman. Let's be honest. If you're nerdy enough to be doing a PhD, you probably love a good book. Whether you're looking for entertainment or advice, distraction or comfort, the seven listed here can each, in their own way, help you through your frustrating but uniquely rewarding life of a PhD student. Isaac Asimov - I, Robot.
Reading for Graduate School
Reading for Classes. When you read for your classes, your professors may assign you more reading than they actually expect you to complete, at least word-for-word. Typically this will include both material from textbooks or scholarly monographs and articles from scholarly journals. In American academic contexts, these texts are usually ...
PDF Guidelines for Ph.D. Written-Exam Reading Lists
reading list; and 4) your ability to write coherent, detailed, and persuasive essays under pressure. Sample Reading Lists and Exam Questions The questions used with the Ph.D. written exam vary as widely as do the reading lists developed by students who take the exam. If you are a graduate student in our department, you can access
PDF Reading for a PhD
According to national legislation, a PhD takes 3600 notional hours. These hours are notional, some will need more and some will need less than this, depending in large part on how familiar you were with the relevant literature before you started, but this is a useful average to work from. For a 4 year PhD, this works out to 900 hours a year and ...
What's the point of PhD theses if nobody reads them?
I have read many PhD theses in my time. I find them to be a very different resource to papers. ... I've actually read many such books, often without realizing it was a thesis - the topic was just interesting to me. I found the book in a library, where it was bound with a professional cover, so presumably it was published by a real publisher ...
A Day in the Life of a PhD English Student
Find out what a day in the life of an English PhD student is like, what English Literature students do & how to become an Oxford PhD student. Menu. Oxford Summer School. Courses. Courses; Ages 12-14; Ages 15-18; ... reading books, and joining book clubs; people viewed reading primarily as a social activity. To do this kind of research, I have ...
Here's what students at Harvard and MIT are required to read
Out of 100,000 texts that the Project has data on from colleges in the United States, the top three titles are basic books: The Elements of Style, a writing style guide originally published in ...
How Many Papers Should you Publish During a PhD?
The typical number of papers a PhD student should publish varies depending on the field and university requirements. However, a common benchmark is about 3 papers published or accepted for publication in reputable journals during the course of their PhD program. It 's crucial to consider program requirements and individual factors.
How much do academic philosophers read on average?
Usually I'll do a small amount of non-required read per week, be it another article, an SEP entry, a chapter of a book, whatever. Add maybe 2 articles to the weekly 9 and that's 11 articles per week. At 23 pages per article that'd amount to about 253 pages a week and 36 pages a day.
PhD Source
Jobs PhDs going into after graduation. In this graph, you can see the number of PhDs who graduated in 2022 and the respective sector of the economy that their post-PhD job was in. You can see that PhDs found careers in many areas of the economy, ranging from life sciences to psychology, to engineering, education, and humanities.
PhD by Publication
A PhD by publication is a doctoral degree awarded to a person who has several peer-reviewed publications that have been put together as separate 'chapters', contributing to a unified research theme within a specific field. This format typically consists of a significant introductory chapter, up to 10,000 words, similar to a traditional ...
PhD by Publication: What you Need to Know
The PhD by Publication is becoming more widespread across the US and Canada in many fields. The 'book-ended' or 'sandwich style' format is the most common, but it depends on institution (Paltridge and Starfield 2023). PhD by Publication: Australia
How Many Books Does the Average Person Read?
The Pew Research Center released their latest data on American reading habits, and the results show some interesting — and somewhat surprising — trends.Roughly 72 percent of American adults read a book in 2015, continuing a gradual decline over the last 5 years (from 79 percent in 2011). The figure now stands at 75 percent, according to the recent statistics released by Pew Research Center.
RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones
RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023. In 2020-2021, RIT's Graduate School met and surpassed the university's goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski, dean of RIT's Graduate School.