A good deal of fascinating research

A good deal of fascinating research has been done about the reading patterns of young people, and it is surprising to discover at what an early age children start expressing preferences for particular kinds of books. A recent report, which examinated in detail the reading habits of primary school children, showed that seven –year-old boys and girls have clear view about what they want to read. Girls, in general, read more, and far more girls than boys preferred reading stories. Boys were showing a taste for the more instant appeal of picture stories, or else books about their hobbies.
The tastes continue unchanged until the girlds are teenagers. Apparently girls more in general, but more fiction in particular. You could say that there are more opportunities for girls to read fiction: magazines encourage the fiction habit in girls in their early teens, and by their late teens they have probably moved on to the adult women's magazines. Teenage "'tend to buy magazines about their hobbies: motorcycles, heavy
transport and so on..
Adult treading tastes are also the subject of research. Again the number of women who read for pleasure is considerably higher than the number of men. It seems that the majority of women still want love stories. There has also been some analysis of what men actually read. Apparently only 'per cent of men read anything, but 50 per cent of what they read is fiction in the form of action-packed stories of space or gunmen.