Image description
A Twitter screenshot which shows a quote-retweet and a reply to said QRT.
The quoted tweet from Alex & Books (@AlexAndBooks_) on November 5, 2025 reads,
Books men like to read vs. Books women like to read:
and has an image of a graph titled "Goodreads reviewers by genre and sex (Thelwall M., 2017)"; the data seems to be from the 2017 paper "Reader and author gender and genre in Goodreads" by Mike Thelwall. The graph has a list of Goodreads genres on the Y-axis and percentage of readers on the X-axis, with bars for "Males" and "Females" (representing the gender proportion of reviewers in a sample of books within each genre), and the list of genres sorted from highest male readership to lowest male readership. The most striking thing about the graph is that females overwhelmingly dominate in nearly all genres, with only four genres having more male than female readers (and only relatively small margins even then). The genre with the highest male-to-female ratio (roughly 59% to 39%) is philosophy.
I have provided tabular editions of this data below in two versions: an abbreviated version with only the genres and percentages, as in the graph, as well as a full version with all the data from the paper plus the percentages (since the percentages were not in the original paper, only raw numbers).
The QRT from august (@regularagust) on November 8 reads,
This becomes way funnier to look at if you know what the philosophy section in the average bookstore looks like.
The reply from 滿帖子乖謬之言觀汝似有瘋症 (@remmettmaxwell) on November 8 reads,
what we imagine: "phenomenology of the being and cognition" by j. j. r. von Grosseschleichen (1889)
what they mean: "locking in: 12 lessons on the meaning of life i learned from being with the operators in the coast guard auxiliary"
Data (abbreviated, percentages only)
| Genre^[The symbol > indicates that the category on the right has been classified by Goodreads as being a subcategory of the category on the left.] | Male % | Female % |
|---|---|---|
| philosophy | 59.1% | 40.9% |
| sequential-art>comics | 57.8% | 42.2% |
| politics | 56.4% | 43.6% |
| sequential-art>graphic-novels | 54.9% | 45.1% |
| science-fiction | 49.8% | 50.2% |
| history | 46.9% | 53.1% |
| religion | 42.0% | 58.0% |
| science | 41.4% | 58.6% |
| literature | 40.9% | 59.1% |
| horror | 40.8% | 59.2% |
| classics | 36.5% | 63.5% |
| non-fiction | 35.8% | 64.2% |
| reference | 35.0% | 65.0% |
| novels | 34.6% | 65.4% |
| biography | 34.2% | 65.8% |
| adventure | 33.9% | 66.1% |
| psychology | 33.7% | 66.3% |
| short-stories | 32.7% | 67.3% |
| thriller | 32.2% | 67.8% |
| travel | 30.9% | 69.1% |
| mystery>crime | 30.4% | 69.6% |
| poetry | 29.8% | 70.2% |
| art | 29.4% | 70.6% |
| fantasy | 27.8% | 72.2% |
| autobiography>memoir | 24.9% | 75.1% |
| christian | 24.4% | 75.6% |
| fiction | 23.9% | 76.1% |
| humor | 23.1% | 76.9% |
| thriller>mystery-thriller | 22.9% | 77.1% |
| mystery | 21.8% | 78.2% |
| sequential-art>manga | 21.1% | 78.9% |
| suspense | 21.1% | 78.9% |
| historical | 17.8% | 82.2% |
| historical-fiction | 16.9% | 83.1% |
| fantasy>magic | 16.8% | 83.2% |
| romance>m-m-romance | 15.8% | 84.2% |
| young-adult | 15.0% | 85.0% |
| childrens | 13.1% | 86.9% |
| food-and-drink>cookbooks | 13.1% | 86.9% |
| animals | 12.6% | 87.4% |
| adult | 12.3% | 87.7% |
| fantasy>paranormal | 11.7% | 88.3% |
| contemporary | 10.4% | 89.6% |
| childrens>picture-books | 9.8% | 90.2% |
| adult-fiction>erotica | 6.3% | 93.7% |
| romance | 5.4% | 94.6% |
| romance>paranormal-romance | 4.0% | 96.0% |
| womens-fiction>chick-lit | 3.6% | 96.4% |
| romance>contemporary-romance | 2.7% | 97.3% |
| romance>historical-romance | 2.5% | 97.5% |
Data (full)
| Genre* | Books | Ratings | Male reviewers | Female reviewers | Male % | Female % | Reviews for RQ5^[Review Question 5: Are there differences in the types of things that male and female reviewers write about male and female authored books in specific genres?] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| philosophy | 5131 | 95606 | 11234 | 7772 | 59.1% | 40.9% | 857 |
| sequential-art>comics | 8567 | 166331 | 13334 | 9749 | 57.8% | 42.2% | 1263 |
| politics | 3894 | 34030 | 12657 | 9790 | 56.4% | 43.6% | 490 |
| sequential-art>graphic-novels | 6961 | 169828 | 13204 | 10828 | 54.9% | 45.1% | 878 |
| science-fiction | 9967 | 261253 | 22221 | 22363 | 49.8% | 50.2% | 1614 |
| history | 16315 | 199503 | 33017 | 37310 | 46.9% | 53.1% | 4033 |
| religion | 5056 | 54552 | 11505 | 15890 | 42.0% | 58.0% | 676 |
| science | 4463 | 71467 | 9908 | 14006 | 41.4% | 58.6% | 938 |
| literature | 3697 | 77384 | 9679 | 13979 | 40.9% | 59.1% | 92 |
| horror | 5545 | 161636 | 9923 | 14398 | 40.8% | 59.2% | 914 |
| classics | 5187 | 664000 | 10818 | 18831 | 36.5% | 63.5% | 556 |
| non-fiction | 40208 | 507491 | 69899 | 125264 | 35.8% | 64.2% | 8215 |
| reference | 6039 | 27524 | 8862 | 16453 | 35.0% | 65.0% | 580 |
| novels | 4564 | 52933 | 11389 | 21551 | 34.6% | 65.4% | 76 |
| biography | 7925 | 103156 | 18571 | 35705 | 34.2% | 65.8% | 1627 |
| adventure | 4822 | 83352 | 13506 | 26298 | 33.9% | 66.1% | 180 |
| psychology | 3259 | 49520 | 6378 | 12558 | 33.7% | 66.3% | 617 |
| short-stories | 7834 | 96615 | 8555 | 17644 | 32.7% | 67.3% | 758 |
| thriller | 5003 | 86473 | 12521 | 26326 | 32.2% | 67.8% | 453 |
| travel | 2941 | 31811 | 4369 | 9781 | 30.9% | 69.1% | 654 |
| mystery>crime | 4786 | 72899 | 11691 | 26793 | 30.4% | 69.6% | 272 |
| poetry | 7011 | 111621 | 5686 | 13389 | 29.8% | 70.2% | 1943 |
| art | 4469 | 30879 | 4043 | 9718 | 29.4% | 70.6% | 876 |
| fantasy | 19909 | 1057426 | 26409 | 68596 | 27.8% | 72.2% | 2758 |
| autobiography>memoir | 3673 | 67055 | 8576 | 25807 | 24.9% | 75.1% | 480 |
| christian | 4356 | 45478 | 7915 | 24530 | 24.4% | 75.6% | 796 |
| fiction | 41475 | 1218673 | 69470 | 220826 | 23.9% | 76.1% | 5187 |
| humor | 6409 | 87725 | 10417 | 34633 | 23.1% | 76.9% | 516 |
| thriller>mystery-thriller | 3167 | 26621 | 7562 | 25407 | 22.9% | 77.1% | 30 |
| mystery | 13093 | 389375 | 20210 | 72440 | 21.8% | 78.2% | 3645 |
| sequential-art>manga | 6623 | 285353 | 349 | 1306 | 21.1% | 78.9% | 162 |
| suspense | 3829 | 41560 | 6874 | 25647 | 21.1% | 78.9% | 79 |
| historical | 8654 | 137803 | 12514 | 57776 | 17.8% | 82.2% | 260 |
| historical-fiction | 9243 | 309406 | 12213 | 60237 | 16.9% | 83.1% | 1909 |
| fantasy>magic | 3028 | 60821 | 3188 | 15762 | 16.8% | 83.2% | 70 |
| romance>m-m-romance | 5729 | 125520 | 1100 | 5847 | 15.8% | 84.2% | 525 |
| young-adult | 11286 | 621919 | 10739 | 60915 | 15.0% | 85.0% | 1943 |
| childrens | 14147 | 163267 | 11264 | 74404 | 13.1% | 86.9% | 1989 |
| food-and-drink>cookbooks | 3642 | 36381 | 1183 | 7833 | 13.1% | 86.9% | 899 |
| animals | 3280 | 29674 | 3501 | 24264 | 12.6% | 87.4% | 294 |
| adult | 7043 | 72240 | 7151 | 50876 | 12.3% | 87.7% | 101 |
| fantasy>paranormal | 9094 | 261909 | 4556 | 34374 | 11.7% | 88.3% | 599 |
| contemporary | 13853 | 204599 | 8471 | 72730 | 10.4% | 89.6% | 227 |
| childrens>picture-books | 7410 | 131850 | 4754 | 43752 | 9.8% | 90.2% | 2945 |
| adult-fiction>erotica | 6981 | 78255 | 906 | 13487 | 6.3% | 93.7% | 427 |
| romance | 29205 | 676026 | 6805 | 119519 | 5.4% | 94.6% | 3342 |
| romance>paranormal-romance | 4239 | 110105 | 706 | 17100 | 4.0% | 96.0% | 288 |
| womens-fiction>chick-lit | 4072 | 91559 | 1318 | 35144 | 3.6% | 96.4% | 481 |
| romance>contemporary-romance | 7403 | 91478 | 868 | 30965 | 2.7% | 97.3% | 212 |
| romance>historical-romance | 3767 | 103730 | 555 | 21370 | 2.5% | 97.5% | 872 |
