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).
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