Balancing the books
You’d think they spent enough time with their noses in the books, but it seems that accountants spend more of their leisure time reading than any other profession.
A survey commissioned for World Book Day quizzed chefs, vicars, journalists, lawyers, politicians, secretaries, taxi drivers and teachers about their reading habits.
Accountants spent an average of five and a quarter hours reading for pleasure every week and opted for JRR tolkien and Jane Austen as their preferred authors.
Secretaries, who read most often in bed, and politicians, who favour biographies and history books, were close behind.
Bottom of the class was vicars who spend only an average of two hours and forty minutes a week reading for pleasure.
Not surprisingly, they show a strong preference for Mind, Body and Spirit titles.
Are you typical of your profession? Here’s what people chose:
- Accountants — JRR tolkien, Jane Austen and Terry Pratchett
- Secretaries — Jane Austen
- Journalists — Gabriel Barcia Marquez
- Taxi drivers — Agatha Christie but also opt for biographies, thrillers and true crime
- Lawyers — Jane Austen but have no time for poetry, gardening, self-help books or romance
- Chefs — JRR Tolkien
- Teachers — Jane Austen but have a strong preference for contemporary fiction over the classics
- Clergy — JRR Tolkien, Alexander McCall Smith, Alice Sebold and DBC Pierre with a strong preference for mind, body and spirit titles
- Politicians - enjoy biographies and history books, as well as crime writers such as PD James and Patricia Cornwell. Avoid mind, body and spirit or self-help books.
