On the Decline of Reading

[monk222]

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The question of whether reading, or reading books in particular, is essential is complicated by the fact that part of what draws people to books can now be found elsewhere — and there is only so much time to consume it all.

Readers who want to know they are not alone are finding reflections of themselves in the confessional blogs sprouting across the Internet. And television shows like “The Sopranos” or “Lost” can satisfy the hunger for narrative and richly textured characters in a way that only books could in a previous age.

But books have outlived many death knells, and are likely to keep doing so. “I’m much more optimistic than I think most people are,” Mr. Díaz said. Reading suffers, he said, because it has to compete unfairly with movies, television shows and electronic gadgets whose marketing budgets far outstrip those of publishers. “Books don’t have billion-dollar publicity behind them,” Mr. Díaz said. “Given the fact that books don’t have that, they’re not doing a bad job.”

-- Motoko Rich for The New York Times

Even watching a show like "The Sopranos" is a passive comsumption. Reading a book has the advantage of drawing your active imagination. I think the problem of a declining interest in reading has more to do with laziness (or exhaustion from the real life mania of modern times). To enjoy a book requires more effort, you get more out of it for that effort, but some people may need that meaningfulness more than others.

xXx

Comments

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

There's another thing about books. You can go at the pace you want, not at the pace the TV company wants. You can go back and read a bit again if it particularly strikes you, or nip back and check if you think you remember a character saying something casually earlier in the story that may turn out to be relevant in the light of something you've just discovered.

Also, as I have mentioned many times and no doubt will again, you can't take the TV with you on public transport in the rush hour... well, not unless you have a death wish, I suppose! :-)

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

I expect that people will be watching TV on their cell phones pretty soon. Reading may be a dying art!