I just read that four million books were published in 2025. That means that if you read one book a week - 52 books a year - you’ve read 0.001% of them. One thousandth of one percent! That’s kind of depressing.
I’m going to throw a little commercial in here (sorry) but that’s why I’m such an advocate of BookBrowse. So many books, so little time… and BookBrowse really helps narrow that vast sea of options down to … well, at least a lake.
No wonder my TBR list will never be completed….
Is that 4 million titles or number of books?
Hah, yeah, thanks for catching that, @NanK. I’m sure the article meant titles, not physical copies. Heck, ive got almost that many on my shelves alone! 
Chances are you wouldn’t have read many of those titles if you had been aware of them. Let’s face it, a good number of them probably weren’t that readable (also, did that include self-publilshed titles that often have a very limited audience even if they are well-written). But if you want to look at the upside, think about Ranganathan’s Laws of Library Science: every reader his/her book and every book its reader. Perhaps with a larger pool to choose from, more people will read!
Yeah, I saw an update this morning. The numbers are based on new ISBN numbers in the US:
Total: 4,172,222
Self Published: 3,529,980
The 642,242 books published via traditional means is still up 6.6% year over year.
That’s still a lot of books!
Interesting article, Kim. I did catch that one title might be available in multiple formats with each having a unique ISBN, e.g. hard copy, paperback version, e-book and audio. I couldn’t determine if that one title counted as four. Doesn’t matter as the reality is as you said. None of us will live long enough to read all new books each year, which is why we rely on BB for screening and presenting the “top guns” of the book world. 
That’s an interesting question, Nan! I looked it up, and audiobooks do have a unique ISBN number, but ebooks aren’t required to! Most do, because that’s how a lot of sellers track them, but still! I did know that a hardback and a paperback of the same novel would have different ISBN numbers. That in itself shouldn’t matter, though, since you probably wouldn’t see the hardback and the paperback published in the same year. Hah! This is ending up being much more complicated that I originally thought!
It’s a good sign that reading is alive and well (if there was a demand for so many titles—or a market for them).
When I was a kid my goal was to read every book in the library. I was so upset when my mom told me that probably wouldn’t be possible even if I lived to be 100. 
That is depressing. I’m hoping most of those books are technical and scholarly books that I wouldn’t read anyway.
Hahaha @Lana_Maskus you are the only other person I’ve heard say that. I grew up in a small community and it actually might have been possible for me to make a big dent in reading the whole collection there. Subsequently I’ve learned how many great books come out each and every week. Now I’d just like to read some of the unread books languishing in my home.
Me, too! We converted a bedroom into my “library” five years ago and now it’s overflowing. I don’t think I have an addictive personality and I can’t stand clutter, but I break all the norms when it comes to books.
I so relate to this statement! We might be birds of a feather.
So do you folks keep your books after you read them, or pass them on?
Wow that’s a lot of books. Guess it will be hard to accomplish my goal of reading every book ever written!
Coincidentally, I’m going to box some books today to be passed on to friends.
We need to find the fountain of youth!