The average Briton owns more than 50 books, but do they organise them alphabetically, by colour, genre, or size - or simply let chaos reign?
The Dewey Decimal System used by libraries around the world splits all books into ten topics, which are themselves split into ten subtopics, and so on. It all works rather well, but is perhaps overkill for a living room bookshelf. So how do Britons organise their own collections?
Our research shows that many simply prefer to let chaos reign, and have no system at all. Men are slightly more likely to prefer an anarchic bookshelf (45%) than women (41%).
Click to enlargeJust 4% of Britons own no books whatsoever, with men (6%) twice as likely as women (3%). On the other side of the spectrum, 5% of both genders claim to own more than 1,000 books.
Previous research revealed that most people claim to own more than 50 books.
Those in social grade C2DE are less likely than those in ABC1 to organise their books alphabetically, by colour, by genre or by size - but they are more likely to have no system at all (49%, compared to 39% of ABC1).
Click to enlargSome 3% of Britons have read none of the books they own. Meanwhile, 25% have read some of them, 52% have read most of them, and 17% are completists who have read each and every book in the house.
Image: Getty
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