Libraries are continuing to draw users in Taipei, even in an age where information is instantly available at the press of a button.
The capital saw an increase in the number of books on loan last year, with Taipei residents on average checking out 5.1 books per year from libraries, Taipei Public Library data released on Jan. 30 showed.
The total number of books borrowed was 12.98 million, up from 12.79 million in 2014.
Women represented the majority of library users, accounting for 7.19 million, or 55.39 percent, of books borrowed last year.
People aged 41 to 50 checked out 3.46 million books, followed by those aged 31 to 40 with 2.76 million books and school-aged people from grades one to nine with 1.52 million titles. People under 30 made up a small fraction of library users, which could be attributed to Taiwan’s lower birth rate over the past three decades.
Language books and literature were the most popular, followed by the arts — including comic books — history and geography, applied sciences and social sciences.
Among the top 20 most-borrowed titles were Chinese translations of English or Japanese books. Japanese novelist Keigo Higashino’s Miracles of the Namiya General Store was the most popular, while another eight of Higashino’s novels ranked at various spots between third and 16th.
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James was second; Wool by Hugh Howey was sixth and his novel Shift was 18th; Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson was 10th, and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins came in at 20th.
The only literary work by a local writer on the top 20 list was a collection of essays by former physician Hou Wen-yong (侯文詠), ranked at 17th.
The top 20 literature titles were checked out between 1,133 and 2,114 times each last year, while the top 20 non-literature titles were checked out between 826 and 1,333 times.
Two-fifths of the top 20 non-literature titles were translations of English or Japanese non-fiction books, including Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (fifth), Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds by Carmine Gallo (sixth), How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes (eighth), Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (20th) and two titles on keeping a home clean through organization by Marie Kondo (seventh and 19th).
Twelve were Chinese-language originals, including three books (first, second and 12th) on eating and the connection between mental and physical health, by dietitian Sara Tang (賴宇凡).
In third place was First Emperor of the Qin: A Trip in Historical Thinking (秦始皇︰一場歷史的思辨之旅) by National Taiwan University professor Lu Shih-hao (呂世浩), and in 10th place was The Scientific, Medical and Mental Trip of Meditation (靜坐的科學、醫學與心靈之旅) by Yang Ding-i (楊定一), a biochemist and medical doctor, and his daughter Lena Young (楊元寧).
Also on the list were Taiwanese-Japanese author Chen Hsuan-ju (陳宣儒), also known by her Japanese name Mika Tanaka, for her book Wansei Back Home (灣生回家) in ninth place, which documents buried stories of Taiwan-born Japanese during their years living in Taiwan before 1945, and a collection in 13th place of stories involving fortune-tellers by late writer Shih Chi-ching (施寄青).
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai