Read in public to make yourself look interesting? You may be on to something as half say reading a physical book DOES make people more attractive
A survey by luxury publisher The Folio Society has found that nearly half of British adults consider reading a physical book to be an attractive quality, suggesting that being seen with a novel in public could boost someone's dating prospects. The findings come alongside strong physical book sales, which have reached £1 billion so far this year, indicating a continued appetite for printed books even in an increasingly digital age.
The Folio Society polled 2,000 adults and found reading consistently rated as one of the most appealing hobbies. Almost 40 per cent of Gen Z respondents (aged 14 to 29) said owning a physical book felt more meaningful to them than digital alternatives, while a third said their reading choices reflected their personality, and nearly two-thirds felt a person's bookshelf was a more honest signal of character than their social media profile. Publishing director Tom Walker said readers trust books "in a way they no longer trust other cultural communication signals," noting that a bookshelf is accumulated rather than curated, unlike an online profile.
- Nearly half of Britons find reading a book attractive, survey finds
- Physical book sales have hit £1 billion this year
- Gen Z see bookshelves as more genuine than social media profiles
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Recent surveys keep finding that reading is seen as one of the most attractive hobbies, with sizeable numbers of adults saying a physical book gives a good impression of someone. The latest figures come from The Folio Society, a publisher known for producing high-quality hardback editions, which polled 2,000 UK adults on their attitudes to books and reading.
Physical books have remained resilient despite the rise of e-readers, audiobooks and smartphones, with UK sales running into the billions of pounds each year. Younger adults, often assumed to be the most digitally focused, appear particularly drawn to owning printed copies, with many saying a bookshelf feels like a more genuine reflection of a person than what they post online.
The wider context is a long-running debate about authenticity in an age of curated social media profiles, where people increasingly question how accurately online personas represent someone's real tastes and character. Surveys like this one feed into that conversation by suggesting that physical, harder-to-fake possessions, such as books on a shelf, may carry more social and personal significance than digital equivalents.