Do books – the printed ones – have a future? It is indeed a moot question. They have been around in the present form ever since Johannes Guttenberg, the German inventor of moveable type printing, introduced printing nearly six hundred years ago. The advent of computer and internet prompted many a futurist to predict the demise of printed books and newspapers. But as yet things haven’t happened the way they thought they would. In his 1970 book, Future Shock, the bestselling author and futurist Alvin Toffler foresaw a grim future for books and reading. Interestingly, Toffler himself published many a book thereafter, several of them bestsellers. Umberto Eco, the celebrated Italian author, says in an article that books in printed form will coexist with that in the electronic form. He says trains which came into being in the nineteenth century have not become obsolete with the invention of motor vehicles and aero planes in the last century. We observe the World Book Day every year with the aim of encouraging children to explore the pleasure of books and reading.
My early and invincible love of reading, wrote Edward Gibbon, I would not exchange for the treasures of India. But these days, as internet and television exercise an inevitable influence on children, an early love of reading is unlikely to sprout in their minds. Can one hope that ill-reading will not be for keeps? And once the love of reading is dead, can it rise again like a phoenix from the ashes?
For some, you must read only if it serves a purpose, such as passing an exam etc. Reading for pleasure or for gaining knowledge for the sake of gaining knowledge is something inconceivable to them. Many think reading books is an unnecessary exercise. Years ago, while travelling in Mumbai’s suburban train to my workplace, I was reading a book, Outline of Psychology by William MacDougall, who was thought an authority on the subject. I found the book very riveting and was engrossed in it. Therefore, I did not feel the presence of an acquaintance of mine sitting by me until he said, ‘Oh, appearing for psychology exam?’ When I turned to him, he said, ‘Why wasting time reading thick volumes like this when guides and cyclostyled notes on the subject are available. They are precise and do not beat about the bush so that you can save a lot of time.” I looked at him confused, unable to fathom what he was driving at. Eventually, the penny dropped. He was giving me tips to pass exams employing short cuts. When I told him that I was not reading for any exam his face betrayed incredulity.
My acquaintance reminded me of the story of a young football fan for whom, playing football merely meant getting the ball through the goal posts by hook or by crook. One night, when everybody else was asleep and silence enveloped the football field, he reached there, carrying a ball and cast it inside the goal posts. Alas, while pleasure of playing did not mean a thing to this youngster, my acquaintance was a complete stranger to pleasure of reading!
