Q5 - The average literate

[wj097]

I get how D does not resolve the paradox, but not quit sure if C does either.

C suggests that the professional subgroup is owning more books than before. This explains why the sales increased but is far from explaining why the average reading time had a significant dip...

Thx

[nbayar1212]

So the question that arises from the paradox is how come there are more books sold today than 50 years ago if the average person reads less nowadays than before?

c) resolves the paradox because it states that a subgroup of people i.e. people who use books professionally, buy and consult more books than the same group of people 50 years ago. If this were true, it would help explain why the number of books sold now is so much higher.
As for the time spent reading, if we don't bring in new information and assume that consulting more sources or buying more books = scholars reading more, then it can very well be that scholars today and 50 years ago spent equal time reading or that scholars today possibly spend less time reading even though they have more books.

d) has no effect on the paradox.

[wj097]

.
As for the time spent reading, if we don't bring in new information and assume that consulting more sources or buying more books = scholars reading more, then it can very well be that scholars today and 50 years ago spent equal time reading or that scholars today possibly spend less time reading even though they have more books.

thanks nbayar,
agree that one shouldn't assume, buying more books = reading more, but by the same token, its even further jump to assume buying more books = equal reading or less...

Maybe LSAC meant to use the term "CONSULTS" to indicate brief lookup??

Geeks, should I just be more relax with these old lsats...would you agree that such answer would be a correct answer for more recent lsats??

Thx

[tommywallach]

Hey Wj,

I think you're missing that the prompt says "The average literate person spends significantly less time reading." A scholar is not an average literate person. So we don't need to assume that these scholars are reading any less overall, just the literate population at large.

Remember, the thing we're trying to explain is why more books are sold. Here we have a bunch of people buying lots more books. That's the important part.

(D) not only doesn't help the paradox, it actually makes it worse. By turning books into an object of art, we ruin BOTH HALVES of the paradox. First off, people 50 years ago wouldn't necessarily be reading the books (they might just be using them to show off), and they would also need lots of books in order to show off. So why are current day people reading less and buying more?

Hope that helps!

-t

[HosseinM832]

How the A resolves the paradox?