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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"

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 %
philosophy59.1%40.9%
sequential-art>comics57.8%42.2%
politics56.4%43.6%
sequential-art>graphic-novels54.9%45.1%
science-fiction49.8%50.2%
history46.9%53.1%
religion42.0%58.0%
science41.4%58.6%
literature40.9%59.1%
horror40.8%59.2%
classics36.5%63.5%
non-fiction35.8%64.2%
reference35.0%65.0%
novels34.6%65.4%
biography34.2%65.8%
adventure33.9%66.1%
psychology33.7%66.3%
short-stories32.7%67.3%
thriller32.2%67.8%
travel30.9%69.1%
mystery>crime30.4%69.6%
poetry29.8%70.2%
art29.4%70.6%
fantasy27.8%72.2%
autobiography>memoir24.9%75.1%
christian24.4%75.6%
fiction23.9%76.1%
humor23.1%76.9%
thriller>mystery-thriller22.9%77.1%
mystery21.8%78.2%
sequential-art>manga21.1%78.9%
suspense21.1%78.9%
historical17.8%82.2%
historical-fiction16.9%83.1%
fantasy>magic16.8%83.2%
romance>m-m-romance15.8%84.2%
young-adult15.0%85.0%
childrens13.1%86.9%
food-and-drink>cookbooks13.1%86.9%
animals12.6%87.4%
adult12.3%87.7%
fantasy>paranormal11.7%88.3%
contemporary10.4%89.6%
childrens>picture-books9.8%90.2%
adult-fiction>erotica6.3%93.7%
romance5.4%94.6%
romance>paranormal-romance4.0%96.0%
womens-fiction>chick-lit3.6%96.4%
romance>contemporary-romance2.7%97.3%
romance>historical-romance2.5%97.5%

Genre*BooksRatingsMale reviewersFemale reviewersMale %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?]
philosophy51319560611234777259.1%40.9%857
sequential-art>comics856716633113334974957.8%42.2%1263
politics38943403012657979056.4%43.6%490
sequential-art>graphic-novels6961169828132041082854.9%45.1%878
science-fiction9967261253222212236349.8%50.2%1614
history16315199503330173731046.9%53.1%4033
religion505654552115051589042.0%58.0%676
science44637146799081400641.4%58.6%938
literature36977738496791397940.9%59.1%92
horror554516163699231439840.8%59.2%914
classics5187664000108181883136.5%63.5%556
non-fiction402085074916989912526435.8%64.2%8215
reference60392752488621645335.0%65.0%580
novels456452933113892155134.6%65.4%76
biography7925103156185713570534.2%65.8%1627
adventure482283352135062629833.9%66.1%180
psychology32594952063781255833.7%66.3%617
short-stories78349661585551764432.7%67.3%758
thriller500386473125212632632.2%67.8%453
travel2941318114369978130.9%69.1%654
mystery>crime478672899116912679330.4%69.6%272
poetry701111162156861338929.8%70.2%1943
art4469308794043971829.4%70.6%876
fantasy199091057426264096859627.8%72.2%2758
autobiography>memoir36736705585762580724.9%75.1%480
christian43564547879152453024.4%75.6%796
fiction4147512186736947022082623.9%76.1%5187
humor640987725104173463323.1%76.9%516
thriller>mystery-thriller31672662175622540722.9%77.1%30
mystery13093389375202107244021.8%78.2%3645
sequential-art>manga6623285353349130621.1%78.9%162
suspense38294156068742564721.1%78.9%79
historical8654137803125145777617.8%82.2%260
historical-fiction9243309406122136023716.9%83.1%1909
fantasy>magic30286082131881576216.8%83.2%70
romance>m-m-romance57291255201100584715.8%84.2%525
young-adult11286621919107396091515.0%85.0%1943
childrens14147163267112647440413.1%86.9%1989
food-and-drink>cookbooks3642363811183783313.1%86.9%899
animals32802967435012426412.6%87.4%294
adult70437224071515087612.3%87.7%101
fantasy>paranormal909426190945563437411.7%88.3%599
contemporary1385320459984717273010.4%89.6%227
childrens>picture-books74101318504754437529.8%90.2%2945
adult-fiction>erotica698178255906134876.3%93.7%427
romance2920567602668051195195.4%94.6%3342
romance>paranormal-romance4239110105706171004.0%96.0%288
womens-fiction>chick-lit4072915591318351443.6%96.4%481
romance>contemporary-romance740391478868309652.7%97.3%212
romance>historical-romance3767103730555213702.5%97.5%872

edit: just realized the link I gave for the paper wasn't the open access link I used, so here's a direct link for that one

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