Lots of fuss last week over an Associated Press-Ipsos poll, which revealed that the U.S. is “a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year.” This explains among other things the lack of actual “Books and Literature” discussion going on in the typical internet chat room of the same name.

With a little bit of research I was able to determine however that there is a very logical explanation for this phenomenon. The cost of books has apparently risen astronomically, keeping all but the very wealthy from reading the latest summer potboiler. At £3m, or about $US 6.05m, Dancing With The Bear, is typical of what the average reader now faces at Barnes and Noble or in the supermarket checkout line.