When asked about the new Amazon Kindle product, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple computer had this to say:“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
I don't know where Jobs got his statistics, but as one of the 60% who do read a lot, I don't think reading will ever go out of style. Has he been to his local library lately? Ours is a hub of activity. Has he been on a plane lately? Most passengers will pull out a book to read during the flight. Just for the heck of it, I'd like to know what his favorite books are, as I'm willing to bet he's a reader, too. Along with at least 60% of the rest of the USA.
4 comments:
We read all the time. But today when I was helping out in my sons' classroom, I overheard a sad story.
The class is earning lanyards for reading minutes, so the kids were wearing theirs proudly. One little boy who didn't earn one said, "I don't need a lanyard. My mom doesn't care if I have a lanyard or not, so she doesn't care if I read or not at home."
Three cheers for reading! I agree, reading is here to stay. It's made it through all these long years, despite all the other media around. Long live reading . . . and writing :-)
Yes, there are some aliterate people out there - people who can read but don't - and their lives are so much poorer, and so much narrower for it. I read because I want to understand a wider view of the world. Reading a book is like having a dinner conversation with someone when you can't actually sit down and have dinner with them. How can we be sentient beings and ignore the life of the mind?
Sniff ... now I want to go buy that little boy a lanyard so he can have one too ...
I tell you one thing, here at the Pinkston house, we're doing our darndest to keep the averages up!
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