I was having a discussion recently about whether book readers are dwindling in number. Without any proper statistics to back any argument, all I could put forward was the almost all of my friends are voracious readers. Of course, that earned me the "your friends are as freaky as you" look.
Nevertheless it got me thinking. I was a book worm since I could read. And most of my friends also started early. Now though, I rarely come across any youngster interested in a book. Does that mean the the next generation will not be readers? Or can people pick up the love of reading at any age?
Being a reader has done me lot of good in life. Not so much to do with enlightening me but to give me a better alternative to perhaps television or video games? Oh wait, we didn't have cable television when I was growing up! Coming back to topic, books can often take your mind of the stressful life and for a few hours take you through an entirely different world. I think books stay with you more then movies. I can be biased though.
I wonder if it will do good if we start shoving a comics in a kids hand rather the TV remote? I rather see someone buried nose deep in paper then the idiot box or Nintendo. But the it's just me. In the meantime, I hope books continue to exist and be written until I cease to exist. That way I can read till I die!
Nevertheless it got me thinking. I was a book worm since I could read. And most of my friends also started early. Now though, I rarely come across any youngster interested in a book. Does that mean the the next generation will not be readers? Or can people pick up the love of reading at any age?
Being a reader has done me lot of good in life. Not so much to do with enlightening me but to give me a better alternative to perhaps television or video games? Oh wait, we didn't have cable television when I was growing up! Coming back to topic, books can often take your mind of the stressful life and for a few hours take you through an entirely different world. I think books stay with you more then movies. I can be biased though.
I wonder if it will do good if we start shoving a comics in a kids hand rather the TV remote? I rather see someone buried nose deep in paper then the idiot box or Nintendo. But the it's just me. In the meantime, I hope books continue to exist and be written until I cease to exist. That way I can read till I die!
4 comments:
Very well said. Books indeed are a holier option to tv and video games i must say. i am not sure if book readers are dwindling in number but i think the form of reading has changed. people still know about current affairs but they prefer news channels to news papers. youngsters are reading still, but mostly on the web duniya and tv again. But i too am, for sure, an ardent supporter of books, given the option. i would prefer reading a whole novel rather than watching a movie made on it. the magic that words and books can weave,is incomparable to the one on-screen.
Reading is the most personal and intimate of experiences one can probably have, turning one page discovering a new world...well I still can't get over it. I am guilty of reading everything that I can lay my hands on...I just read without any prejudice like lots of other things in life ;)
Can't imagine a world without books...I shiver at the thought...
Ah the passion is unmistakable. I pity those who are missing out on the secret world of books! And I solemnly promise to corrupt as many young minds as possible by coercing them into reading books.
every once in while doomsdayers predict the death of the book as do they of authors. but somehow books have survived and will continue to do so... at least the collective will of a freaky-few will let that happen. what say?
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