the lack of men reading books (an evolving discussion)
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- a return to the topic of why men don't read and how that can become everybody's problem, hope you enjoy :)
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I think the major problem is that literature doesn't have the purpose it used to: it's no longer an art form to explore the range of human experience--it's a blanket hustle of niches capitalizing on the Vibe Market. Combined with active efforts to destroy public education for the last 50 years (by turning education into a commodity), you have generations of people who look at books like emotional narcotics they consume...but can also manufacture with a laptop and an Amazon KDP account. People don't like to think when they read because it's too much to keep track of.
Really solid video in general. And near the beginning when you said something about how you want young men reading these contemporary romance books I thought back to something I saw someone post awhile ago, about how growing up a lot of little girls were encouraged to read both “boy books/books written by men as well as “girl books”/books written by women (grouped together because society often sees those categories as the same thing especially when I was growing up in the 2000s) while little boys were often discouraged from picking up the “girl books”. And I think you’re hitting on some of the same ideas here.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I wish I included more of the research from my initial video on the subject in this video, but that kind of stuff really starts at a young age. Boys and girls are conditioned to doing and reading certain things, and it can be very hard to break out of those preconditioned things. But one step and one person at a time, I think everybody can make a difference. Thanks for watching 🙏🏽
I was at Target the other day. The books section and the game section are right next to each other. No need to guess what happens when the average couple hits this area.
I think we do need to talk about how reading is actively discouraged in boys by other boys.
Boys are often bullied out of reading because they get bullied for doing it! Girls are encouraged to read (it keeps us quiet, we look busy, and we've got lots of examples.). If a boy comes from an environment where he doesn't see any men reading, he's not very likely to think he needs to, either.
Genres that cater to men have become niche: Western, Noir, Adventure, even horror. The men and boys are still there, but they are a smaller group of people. Mainstream has mostly been overtaken by romance and fantasy romance.
I come from a family of readers. I noticed that we all like different genres. My parents used to shake my head at what I was reading when I was a teen. Had trouble with bookclubs as many of the book picks didn't go with my tastes. One book, I enjoyed it. The other person in the book club was a man. It was a lit book too, but the name escapes me. Oh well. I can tell what my brothers and my parents would like to read. In fact, my Dad and I like books from a genre that my brothers and Mom didn't. We found that there was a movie and watched it as a family. For a while I even stated I didn't like to read, because no one seemed to like my tastes. Even on UA-cam. My favorite genre was popular for a few years it died down, and same for the sub genre. I do find my Dad and my brothers enjoy non-fiction more so fiction. My history of bookclubs is not that great. I just read on my own and commit on UA-cam. I have been getting more men book recommendations. Probably, because of the book review I was looking for had more men than women responding to it. (That was a while ago too.)
Great video! Another problem is the wave of anti-intellectualism, though perhaps that isnt as prevalent. You mentioned Tate which is a phenomenal example. The man is on record saying 'you can't learn anything from books' and to learn anything you have to go out and do it yourself. Its true you can't learn everything from books, but fiction and non-fiction are pathways to perspectives you cannot have in the real world because it is impossible to organically see the world through other people's eyes. To disavow any stories is to deny yourself an opportunity to experience empathy. I say this also as a gamer who dispares at seeing men complain when the PC of a video game is a woman, as if the majority of video game protagonists up to this point havent always been men. God forbid they have to "play as a girl." I think the issue of the lack of literary men is a deep and societal one that will require a lot of cracking. Much of it will start in school. Sometimes it can he undiagnosed hurdles (ADHD). Some will perceive literature as now being "feminized". Others will feel it has no merits. The list goes on.
Great video! I just started my own classic SF book club and I chose “The stars my destination” by Albert bester as our first read. And to stay with the topic of the video mostly men showed up.
Just discovered your channel today and binged your videos. Love what you're doing please keep it up!!
Thank you for watching, I appreciate the support 😇 Hope you enjoy your stay!!
My partner is a male fantasy reader. From what I gather about his experience is that he feels he has to turn to older books and fiction which cater to the themes he's interested in: he's re-reading Dune, Lord of the Rings, etc because many of the topics in modern fantasy feel either shallow to him or unrelatable. There's still recent ones he likes, much of Brandon Sanderson for instance, but I think much of what he's interested in isn't as mainstream anymore maybe? Idk. Just one perspective.
That’s completely understandable! With how the dominance of popular genres/authors ebb and flow through time, stuff like LotR and Dune can get jumbled up with a bunch of other stuff that isn’t as interesting to readers. The thing I love is that there is definitely a book/series out there that is on Dune’s literary level, it just might take a little digging to find. I like having to dig for stuff every once in a while but there were certainly times I preferred reading older stuff to save myself the hassle. I’m like 3 chapters into Dune and really enjoying it. Thanks for watching!!
Also, that’s a completely valid perspective. I’m still figuring out what and who I like to read, so I’m sure that if I had more serious reading years under my belt, I might be going through what he’s going through. Hopefully y’all find some new favs soon 😇
Most good authors seem to be a bit more obscure or indie self published or if they are traditionally published some of the men are far and few in between,
Get him some John Gwynne books. Being unsophisticated clearly isn't the problem Sanderson has the complexity and depth of a spoon.
And push him ot of his comfort zone, it's not very manly to be scared of books by girls.
I am a male. I used to like reading books but not anymore. Whenever I try to read a book now, i get super uninterested a lot of the time and put the book away
A lot of that is based on finding the right thing to read at the right time. I’ve been there fr.
@ChrisReadsYT Yeah that's true. I was in my Agatha Christie phase like a year or so ago where I read like all 66 of her books but when I pick up a mystery book from another author I get bored
Do you have any Agatha Christie recs you don’t mind sharing? I read Murder on the Orient Express last year and was disappointed with the ending but I LOVED the overall writing style.
@ChrisReadsYT Well I'd suggest "And then there were None" and "Crooked House" if you want stand alone novels and "Five Little Pigs" if you want a Hercule Poirot one. You could always try her very first book as well "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". There are a lot of great Christies out there though, and I don't know what you might like or not
I just wanted to get a base for her, thank you so much for writing that comment out, I appreciate you!!
As a young man I didn’t read at all, whatsoever. After entering adulthood I went on a binge of self help, business, and finance literature. I also didn’t finish any of them, as soon as I got what I needed from the various titles I would put the book down and just hold on to the couple pieces of information I felt I was looking for when I bought the book.
Teenage boys and young men used to read science fiction. Loads of it. And sci-fi-adjacent genres like the techno-thriller. Much of it was far from 'nuts and bolts' and included good characterisation. What happened to that?
The genre was captured by activists who use it as a platform to push their politics. The average male who reads them gets a lecture rather than entertainment or something that inspires.
@@HerpDerp-ql1jw "The genre was captured by activists who use it as a platform to push their politics"
The first scifi novels and the most popular works of the genre were heavily political, just ask Asimov, K. Dick and almost every scifi author. But I get it, you cannot make valid criticism about anything because that would require too much braincells.
I would start a book club with this community using "All About Love: New Visions" by bell hooks.
I keep hearing about it, I haven't read it yet, and I want to.
Another great video. I agree with the points that were made. Men should be reading more, and especially more fiction. Non-fiction is great and I'm not suggesting that men who read it should stop however it's been shown that reading fiction helps build empathy and emotional intelligence which is super important.
Choosing one book to start a book club with that I think almost anyone would enjoy is a hard ask. Especially since a lot of the books I read are lit fic that are more character focused and don't have a lot of plot or action that would help someone new to reading stay engaged while they build the habit of reading more often. I think something like The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue might work, it has a good balance between plot and character focus. There is a lot of drama that happens in the book that I think would work well to grip people while also offering a lot of opportunities to discuss what happened and how the different characters are reacting to the situations.
I’ve heard good things about Caroline O’Donoghue! I’m realizing that I like more character-driven stories so I’m definitely gonna have to check it 😇 Thanks for watching!!
Good transitioni ng books between that two can vevid good hisatory books, as its a natural crossover. How about the republic of pirates, who doesnt like pirates?
I read non-fiction like maths or engineering but not fiction.
if someone would try to get me to join a book club reading Sapiens, I would do everything in my power to convince them to read Humankind by Rutger Bregman instead. :D I personally like it a lot more. :)
Oooooo I’ll definitely check that out 👀
I read that book. He straight up lies about Richard Dawkins, and it isn't even subtle. Like he wasn't even disingenuous. That would have required more honesty. If you've never read the book "The Selfish Gene," then don't lie about what it says. That kind of makes me think I can't trust anything else he said.
If you'd like a book that makes a similar argument but wasn't written by a liar, ironically, you should try reading Richard Dawkins's "The Selfish Gene."
Why isthere a male reading community that promotes reading for boys and young men?
I am in a biological women only Bookclub, it's an awesome experience and I have made friends there.
Men can do the same, nobody keeps them from doing this.
If I were to start a book club, I would have people read the short novel called Silk by Alessandro Baricco. I remember the imagery in that book being very vivid ^-^
I’ll add that to the list for my reading around the world challenge for Italy !
Very good video. I completely agree. I just want to be represented in the things I read. I think fresh male voices are needed. Reading Ryan Cahill and Christopher Ruocchio (male authors who are of similar age as me) really excites me because I know they probably experienced similar feelings and things as I did. There are just so many brooding mysterious love interests I can take.
If I had to choose a book to start a book club it'll probably be Le Petit Chose by Alphonse Daudet or 24 Hours In The Life Of A Woman by Stefan Zweig since they're the two books that made me like reading , the first one has a poignant plot and is funny in a way , it's my comfort book , the other has vivid descriptions and was such a page turner !!!
I love a wordy, descriptive book, I gotta check it out!!
"I also don't think men deserve to be better represented in literary fiction; they don't suffer from the same kind of prejudice that women have long endured."
With a change that has happened over a short time period and has resulted in such a marked disparity, then the burden of proof is on her to prove that there isn't *some* kind of prejudice at work. It's different from what women suffered but I think the only question is how it manifests itself and where.
leaving a comment for the algy gods, great video
yep, we choose more likely manga, anime, videogames and sports. those are our areas,and will always be. not a single man is interested in what 90% female writers will ever publish in every era. these are just facts, not prejudice, not hate, just facts.
9:17 realest thing ever
I read a lot of scifi and there is still a lot of really good scifi being made that I read. But Fantasy is failing and the overwhelming amount of "new adult" tripe on the market makes it hard to even dig for good work. We ate well with the Collapsing Empire and The Expanse and are currently eating well with the fantasy Cosmere series. I recommend older authors always, at this point, but they run the gambit and tons of good ones exist at all ages and such. Terry Pratchett, Barbara Hambly, Ursula K. Le Guin, N.K. Jemisin, and Joe Abercrombie all have given me many great works to read.
Thank you for watching but also for all of the good recs!! I’ve never been a big fantasy guy but really excited to hop into the genre 😇
Very Interesting!
Which gender is reading scifi, horror?
New books are more feminine and cater more to women. Nothing wrong with that, men are going to the past to seek great adventure stories!
I'm a huge reader, though mostly through audiobooks right now. This issue strikes me as a supply problem, rather than a demand problem. Men are just as hungry for narrative as women - we just prefer genres that are out of favor with the taste-making elites in publishing. Sure, a Brandon Sanderson or a Lee Child will slip through, but that raises another question. Are women reading Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or Thrillers? They're sure writing them (Martha Wells' "Murderbot", Fonda Lee's "Greenbone Saga", Karin Slaughter's "Will Trent" are all excellent). How many women would show up to a book club that started with "The Killing Floor"?
The difficulty is two fold. Most children's introduction to reading books of any length is through the school sustem. Over the past fifty years in Canada snd the US the education system has become skewed by their being a much higher percentage of female teacherd than men. Thus lessons and books are generally presented in a way that will suit and appeal to women far more than men. Many young boys look at the books presented to them in school which are often sjewed to a female audience and immediately say not for me.
None despite this adverse influence you've traditionally had generations of male nerds whom have preserved bevayse of their enthusiasm for history, space and fantasy. The publishing indudtry unfortunately has also become promarily female dominated so over the last fice to ten years less and less by way of new books are produced that would appeal to a male audience. The New York Times can say men should just enjoy what's being published but if they answer is largely thanks but no thanks that's obviously not working. The romantasy smut craze for indyance is basically whiping out shelf space in one of the litetary genres that got men in the door. Male fiction os an adventure not a reality dating show
I don't know if it's really that big of a deal. Really, this whole thing has a "men don't cry enough" feel to it. How do we know men don't cry enough? Well, it's not the same ammout as women of corse! Women are judging men by their own standards and then saying they've "regressing emotionally," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.
Men are still consuming stories they're just doing it in ways they find more appealing. What the hell is the problem with that? Maybe there are things a book can do that a video game never can, but their are things a game can do that a book never can.
Really, this whole thing is another case of Darwin was right, and I took that personality.
And i know the industry is wher ethe money is, and booktalk isnt encouraging reading in various genre and books, which is what s generally good to expand, and , yeah. But the talk should be about the variety over that as, what about like also marketin a varety of books that are not smut in disguise, not erotivca and , still fantasy scifi or YA?
Its probably an easier angle , as a lot are fed up with romantasy thats thinky veiled smut only , and maybe also for any teenager?
And yeah video games are stories, true, And yes the article is kinda really preachy and well meant but , preachy. Fair any critical engaging media is fair.
And the whole boys dont cry is just a badly explained , yeah boys kinda usually are expected to be less vunewrable and explore that, whuch in return, makes a bit less introspective and its not exacttly healthy to shut that in, and good point that yeah then yeah dont women too are part of society enforcing it and judging, which, is messed up.
And knowing yourself and emotions, is kinda a skillset that because its more expected, yeah women usually are bette rat using. So no one overnight magical gets good at it, its kinda hard long work usually?
And i generalize. but yeah its pretty unfair to sufddenly and without societial encouragenent just suddenly being super emotional refined and aware like, women i think often ae expected to learn.
For whats fair ther are plenty "femcels" and other problematic womencontent thats also pretty problematic and harmful, ther is literal content in pretty nasty using dudesthat would any pick up art artist be in awe of.
If there is a regression, its not a gende rthing
Yeah, all people i know that are into reading much are rather women or queer men. Must be some science behind it :D
(exclusion - them strange geezers that, not without spite, read only popular "business" literature that tells you nothing about actual business keeping)