12 Book and Reading Facts You May Not Know

Latin for "Seize the book."

Since today is cold and rainy, i.e., a perfect reading day, here are 12 Book and Reading Facts for your entertainment.

I often post interesting trivia about the world of books—writing them,  reading them, and publishing them—on social media. Maybe you've seen my Facebook Fan Page or my Instagram account.

I've been a reader since before I entered elementary school so reading was my earliest passion.

For many years, I've collected interesting tidbits about books, authors, and reading, and I update reading statistics every year. Enjoy!

1. The longest sentence ever printed is 823 words, and it's from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. In today's world, that's a chapter in many books.

2. There’s a word for loving the smell of old books. You walk into a vintage bookstore, and that scent hits your nose. That smell is created by dust and other particulates in the book’s life and is called Bibliosmia.

3. The word Bibliosmia was coined in 2014 by Dr. Oli Tearle, a published author and Programme Director for English at Loughborough University. He is the publisher of Interesting Literature, a blog with more than 15 million views and over 100,000 Twitter followers.

4. Once upon a time, authors' names were not printed on the covers of their books because the covers  were considered artworks—beautiful drawings and featuring leather and even gold. There simply wasn't a place for the author’s name.

5. The first book ever written using a typewriter was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

6. President Theodore Roosevelt is said to have read one book every day.

7. The three most read books in the world from a curated list by author James Chapman based on global sales are: The Holy Bible, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, and the Harry Potter book series.

8. People in India read more than any other country. On an average, they read 10 hours a week.

9. Illiteracy is still a huge problem throughout the world. One in five adults around the world can’t read or write, with the highest rates in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

10. In 2024, in the United States, 21% of adults are illiterate.

In the U. S., 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level with 20% below 5th-grade level.

11. Low levels of literacy costs the U. S. up to 2.2 trillion per year.

12. In a year, 44% of Americans do not read a book.

Takeaway Truth

Have you read a book recently? Do you set an example for your school-age children that reading is something fun to do, that it is essential for success in school?

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