ABIBLIOPHOBIA

Abibliophobia is the fear of running out of reading material.  Basically, just look up the Greek root-phobia and add whatever word you are afraid of, replace the ending with -o- and couple the results with phobia.  If you have any experience with libraries, the Internet, the back of soup cans, etc. you know there is more than enough material out there to be read and digested. It amazes me that this word has just “popped” up of the last few years.

Now, the World Wide Web is a cavernous source of reading material.  Indeed, it’s a bigger readers’ repository than the world has ever known, so it seems rather ironic that the term abibliophobia appears to have been coined on the Web during the last three or four years. It would seem impossible for anyone with regular access to the Internet to be an abibliophobe (someone suffering from a fear of running out of reading material) or to become abibliophobic when more and more reading matter is available by the hour.  Let’s look at just what is available to convince the abibliophobic individual that there is no fear of running out of reading material.

• There Are More Than 440 Million Blogs In The World. By October 2011, there were an estimated 173 million blogs Nielsen estimates that by the end of 2011, that number had climbed to 181 million. That was four years after Tumblr launched, and in May 2011, there were just 17.5 million Tumblr blogs.  Today, there are over 360 million blogs on Tumblr alone, and there are millions more on other platforms. While there are some reliable statistics on the number of blogs in 2011, things have changed dramatically with the rise of services like Tumblr, WordPress, Squarespace, Medium and more. Exactly how many blogs there are in the world is difficult to know, but what’s clear is that blogs online number in the hundreds of millions. The total number of blogs on Tumblr, Squarespace, and WordPress alone equals over 440 million. In actuality, the total number of blogs in the world likely greatly exceeds this number. We do know that content is being consumed online more widely, more quickly, and more voraciously than ever before.
• According to WordPress, 76.3 million posts are published on WordPress each month, and more than 409 million people view 22.3 billion blog pages each month. It’s interesting to see that there are about 1 billion websites and blogs in the world today. But that figure is not as helpful as looking at the other statistics involving blogging. For example, did you know that more than 409 million people on WordPress view more than 23.6 billion pages each month? Did you know that each month members produce 69.5 million new posts?
• Websites with a blog have over 434% more indexed pages.
• 76% of online marketers say they plan to add more content over the 2018 year.
• There are an estimated 119,487 libraries of all kinds in the United States today.
• It is estimated that there are 000 libraries in the world. Russia, India and China have about 50.000 each.

Thanks to Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, the written word flourished after he invented the printing press.  Gutenberg in 1439 was the first European to use movable type. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink for printing books; adjustable molds; mechanical movable type; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period. His truly epochal invention was the combination of these elements into a practical system that allowed the mass production of printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike. Gutenberg’s method for making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mold for casting type. The alloy was a mixture of lead, tin, and antimony melted at a relatively low temperature for faster and more economical casting.  His invention was a game-changing event for all prospective readers the world over.  No longer will there be a fear of or absence of material to read.

CONCLUSIONS:

I think the basic conclusion here is not the fear of having no reading material but the fear of reading.

• If I read, I might miss my favorite TV programs.
• If I read, I might miss that important phone call.
• Why read when I can TWEET?
• Why read when I can stream Netflix or HULU?
• I’m such a slow reader. It just takes too much time.
• I cannot find any subject I’m really that interested in.
• I really have no quite place to read.
• ___________________ Fill in the blanks.

Reading does take a commitment, so why not set goals and commit?

FLESCH-KINCAID GRADE LEVEL READABILITY INDEX AND DONALD TRUMP

Mom and Dad taught us how to read so why have I not heard about, until now, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Readability Index?  I suppose better late than never.  Let’s take a look.

Rudolph Flesch, an author, writing consultant, and the supporter of Plain English Movement, is the co-author of this formula along with John P. Kincaid, thus the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Readability Test. Raised in Austria, Flesch studied law and earned a Ph.D. in English from the Columbia University. Flesch, through his writings and speeches, advocated a return to phonics. In his article, A New Readability Yardstick, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 1948, Flesch proposed the Reading Ease Readability Formula.

In the mid-seventies, the US Navy was looking for a method to measure the difficulty of technical manuals and documents used by Navy personnel.  These manuals were used for training on hardware and software installed on ships and land-based equipment.  Test results are not immediately meaningful and to make sense of the score requires the aid of a conversion table. So, the Flesch Reading Ease test was revisited and, along with other readability tests, the formula was amended to be more suitable for use in the Navy. The new calculation was the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (1975).  The methodology is given as follows:

Grade level classifications are based on the attainment of participants in the norming group on which the test was given.  The grade represents norming group participants’ typical score. So, if a piece of text has a grade level readability score of six (6), this is equivalent in difficulty to the average reading level of the norming group who were at grade six (6 ) when they took the test. This test rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of 8.0 means an eighth grader can understand the document. For most documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The actual formula and classification of the individual grades may be seen below:

Now, with that out of the way, President Donald Trump—who boasted over the weekend that his success in life was a result of “being, like, really smart”—communicates at the lowest grade level of the last 15 presidents, according to a new analysis of the speech patterns of presidents going back to Herbert Hoover. 

 

I want to come to President Trump’s defense, somewhat, as an employee at General Electric, we were told to write our Use and Care Manuals at a fifth (5^th) grade level AND use plenty of pictures—plenty of pictures.  This President will probably never win an award for public speaking, and he communicates in a rather unique manner:  He does get his point across.

The very painful fact is that we have basically slaughtered the “King’s English” and our presidents are playing to a much less sophisticated audience than ever before.  The following chart will explain.

Sad—very sad.

As always, I welcome your comments.