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June 28, 2005
India-bound Bubble
Indians are the world's biggest bookworms, reading on average 10.7 hours a week, twice as long as Americans, according to a new survey. This is welcome news for me because I just heard that an 'eastern economic edition' of In The Bubble is to be published later this summer in India.
Posted by John Thackara at June 28, 2005 07:04 AM
Comments
I'm sorry to burst your bubble (I know it's bad. Sorry.), however, most of the books Indians read are books to help them do well in school and work. They rarely read for enjoyment. A book that sells well in the US usually has many less sales in India, instead of more. Part of this is because the survey only tracked literate Indians.
Posted by: stephanie at June 28, 2005 03:21 PM
I don't ask people to enjoy the book, I ask them to buy it! Besides, I do think it helps people do better in school and work - even if it's not the work their employer asked them to do. I'll be happy if a modest percentage of the hundreds of millions of literate people in the region give the book the benefit of the doubt.
Posted by: John Thackara at June 29, 2005 08:17 AM
We sure will, John, and I can say that as a LITERATE indian.
As far as Stephanie is concerned, I think Id like to tell her that the Indians 'enjoy' their school and work, and Im not sure whether the Americans would really understand what that means! Maybe she could call a BPO in Bangalore to find out.
Posted by: Harpreet Padam at July 10, 2005 07:48 PM