NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Cambridge, the home of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is the most well-read city in the United States, according to a list released on Friday.
The ranking, compiled by online bookseller Amazon.com, used data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and electronic forms on a per capita basis in cities with a population larger than 100,000.
Cambridge's avid readers also topped the list of cities that bought the most nonfiction books.
Alexandria, Virginia; Berkeley, California; Ann Arbor, Michigan and Boulder, Colorado completed the top five.
Alexandria, just across the Potomac River from Washington DC, was the biggest buyer of children's books.
The health-conscious and outdoorsy city of Boulder in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains lived up to its reputation as one of the healthiest cities in America by being the biggest buyer of books about food, wine and cooking.
In 2010, Bon Appetit magazine awarded Boulder the title of "America's Foodiest Town."
Warm weather also seems to encourage people to read. Florida had three cities in the top 20, including Miami at No.6, Gainesville, which came in eighth, and Orlando at No. 12.