The Reading Class

"I'm surprised my wife hasn't left me."

Me too.

If you were looking at zip-code level data, I'm not sure you can zero in on "rich" people, at least for notions of "rich" as held by a typical middle class professional. Even looking at the wealthiest zips in the country, median family income is still 100-200k -- I'd guess the lion's share of people who live there are just high paid professionals: profs, engineers, investment bankers, salespeople, small business owners, executives, lawyers, doctors, etc. They make more money than most of us, and to the real have-nots they almost certainly look 'rich', but their lives are not terribly dissimilar to mine, they just have more money.

When I think "rich", I think of people who could live the high income lifestyle without working (i.e. 5-million+ NW), or who make so much money they could easily get there from scratch in 10 years.

As a writer for Technology Review, I'm flattered you consider us one of your media mainstays. Thanks!

"Now, I get Claremont Review, The New Atlantis, The Atlantic, and MIT Technology Review."

That's fascinating. I would've never guessed. Now I'm interested in what magazines other readers of Econlog subscribe to.

Mine:
1. The Week
2. New Yorker
3. Economist
4. New Scientist

The Economist
Car and Driver (although it was better before)

I currently don't subscribe to any magazines. The web has plenty of information, and it doesn't clutter my home.

The Atlantic
The Economist
Consumer Report
Penthouse

I don't subscribe to any magazines though I often read the Economist when my fiancee and I go to B&N.

Blogs are my only mental candy. The rest of my time is on a few books but mostly Google Scholar.

If you were looking at zip-code level data, I'm not sure you can zero in on "rich" people, at least for notions of "rich" as held by a typical middle class professional.

When I think "rich", I think of people who could live the high income lifestyle without working (i.e. 5-million+ NW), or who make so much money they could easily get there from scratch in 10 years.

Now I'm interested in what magazines other readers of Econlog subscribe to.

Of course, you'll have to pry my books from my cold, dead hands.

To be precise, your market data suggest that rich people buy books.

A library of hardback books still has great signalling value, regardless of whether any of them are read.

Jason

Arnold, funny post -- "tech/business porn" is a very funny phrase. When I used to travel on business a lot, I would always have Wired, FC, or Forbes with me for both reading and as a signaling mechanism. They'd often spark up interesting conversations. My favorite mag now is James Glassman's "The American". It's the magazine of a retrenching libertarian right, not so concerned about politics, but looking around at what's interesting. I kinda hope it's a signal of a post-political era, but either way, it's interesting "market porn", if you like that analogy.

Jason: Read Taleb's "The Black Swan"... You'll learn that the best libraries consist exclusively of unread books ;-).

Fortunately, America isn't importing millions of poor people from one of the least book-reading countries on earth!

Oh, wait ... we are. Never mind ...

People with great wealth (actually rich, not perceived as rich) do tend to live in the same zip-codes.

Yes, of course they do, most of the time along with a lot of other people who do not have great wealth, but who merely represent the top end of the upper middle class (or who are perhaps on their way to being very wealthy). I would guess that there are very few zip codes whose residents are predominantly rich in the sense you mean.

I live in an area (Connecticut) where a number of zip codes contain a lot of actually rich people, but I do not think they represent the majority in any of these communities. Perhaps in places where there are not lots and lots of upper-upper middle class folks (i.e. away from big metropolises like NYC or LA) there are little zip codes that the actually rich people have colonized whole and kept out the riff raff who have to work and only make a couple hundred thousand a year, but I'm not aware of any places like that around here. It's much more likely to go by neighborhood.

[Comment deleted for supplying false email address. Email the webmaster@econlib.org to restore this comment.--Econlib Ed.]

"Fortunately, America isn't importing millions of poor people from one of the least book-reading countries on earth!

Oh, wait ... we are. Never mind ..."

Why do you believe Mexico is "one of the least book-reading countries on earth"? I would expect them to be about average, but certainly well below the U.S. and the rest of the west.

Seinfeld: "I read!"
Elaine: "Books, Jerry!"

1. Forbes
2. First Things
3. New Criterion
4. American Rifleman
5. Caijing

People with great wealth (actually rich, not perceived as rich) do tend to live in the same zip-codes.

lets also strike to the roote of a ridiculous assumption here. There is no objective definition of just how much wealth or income is required to be "rich". You can make one up if you want, but you'd have to specify exactly what you mean, you can't just say "rich" and expect people to know what objective standard you are using.

Since Arnold is at least a middle class professional (and possibly quite wealthy, I don't know), I assume he means something by rich that is close to what you or I mean.

I was merely trying to be clear since the term is not specific. To a typical Nigerian, pretty much anyone in the US or europe with a decent job is rich, and I feel quite sure that you too would consider that "actually rich" if you were in their place, as opposed to the "perceived as rich" guy in town is who has a wooden house and eats meat every week.

If al-Qaida could get recruits as obsessed with jihad as Sailer is about immigration, this country would be in deep shit.

"Why do you believe Mexico is "one of the least book-reading countries on earth"?"

Because I've read books about Mexico, which say exactly that. Try "Distant Neighbors," for a starter.

Further, the annual list of "Most Literate Cities" in America always ends up with the entire Bottom 10 being heavily Mexican-American cities like El Paso and Santa Ana.

If you're interested in how the internet is changing the author tour, check out famed author of the Long Tail Chris Anderson's new project, BookTour.

Authors create their own page (biography, books, tour dates and availability) and any group looking for speakers can find them and contact them directly to arrange for an appearance. Relevant information for both authors and venues can be added in minutes through a simple fill-in-the-blanks interface. Connecting authors with potential audiences then becomes as easy as searching (by geography, book titles, subject, dates of availability) and sending an email.

For authors, BookTour.com serves as a one-stop tool for book promotion, allowing authors at all levels of their careers to locate receptive live audiences. For readers and audiences, BookTour.com makes finding when a favorite author is coming to your town as easy as checking the weather.

Arnold, I think you would enjoy reading The Catalyst Code, by David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee.

The book's website, with blog, is catalystcode.com.

I will arrange to have a review copy sent to you if I can locate an address for you. (You may email me your mailing address.)

Bill Hobbs
MeshMediaStrategies.com

Magazines: I subscribe to too many magazines, so I let subscriptions lapse, wait for a we-want-you-back deal, resubscribe, etc. Magazines that I am in the habit of subscribing to: Atlantic Monthly, Consumer Reports, Economist, Forbes, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Wired. I also receive magazines from a number of educational institutions, and the quality and depth of their articles have noticeably improved over the years.

Wealth by Zip Code in the SF Bay Area: while the super-rich cluster in Atherton and Hillsborough, there are very wealthy people scattered throughout the Bay Area. In my neighborhood which still has a lot of under-$1 million homes, there are several decamillionaires. Perhaps they have a freer life living quietly in a safe middle/upper-middle-class community?

On Buying Books and Magazines: I have purchased too many books and magazines because I aspired to read them, not because I really wanted to. Well, I'm sated with Shakespeare, done with Dickens, and finished with Faulkner. As for National Geographic---never again!

Jason Devitt writes: "To be precise, your market data suggest that rich people buy books."

Exactly. It's been years since the Chicago Public Library (among many others) has put their catalog online and added reservations and delivery to my local branch. In my case, the result is that I've curtailed my modest book-buying and replaced it with even more book-borrowing. The exceptions are a very few very recent or non-mainstream things I'm interested in that even the library doesn't have.