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| Afghanistan |
| 'Book Reading - A Dying Culture' |
| 2015-09-07 |
| Book-lovers spoke out on Sunday about the dying culture of reading books among the people – especially among the youth. They said that war, poverty and the increase in digital media platforms has had a devastating impact on the culture of reading books in the country. A number of book sellers in Kabul say that business is so bad that some days they can go the entire day without selling anything. I never thought I'd give up paper books. Then one day I spent about 18 hours in an emergency room. They don't even have National Geographics anymore. Nothing to do but watch drunks and dopers. The next day I bought my first Kindle. I currently use a Samsung Galaxy, mostly, with about 400 books on it, most from the Gutenberg project or Usenet. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 ...surely I'd find a book about cats making funny faces. Your wish is my command. I have this book on dead trees. I do not recommend laying out $8 for the Kindle version. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2015-09-07 23:03 |
| #12 Fred's Phoebe Clayton is on Kindle. I liked it. When's the next one coming, Fred? |
| Posted by: KBK 2015-09-07 22:50 |
| #11 Funny, social circle a couple weeks ago concluded ebooks count as reading. Texting does not. Why would such a conversation occur, other than whiskey? Director for High School Reading had been going about asking for reading prizes. High School. I do not have an ebook reader, but the thought of the entire history of human literature available in a space small than the wife's hair dryer fascinates me...surely I'd find a book about cats making funny faces. Audio books were a mixed ruling. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2015-09-07 19:11 |
| #10 Frank got rare coffee table book, The F150s of Madison County which is exceptionally difficult to read as the printer proofs were singed in a freak air raid. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-09-07 17:30 |
| #9 Though I have self published two novels in electronic form, I don't have a dedicated reading device. I do, however, use Calibre on the two laptops and the desktop I have. Ebooks make reading books easier, in fact I have read more in the past summer than I have in quite a while. |
| Posted by: badanov 2015-09-07 17:06 |
| #8 Plato was right. |
| Posted by: gorb 2015-09-07 16:30 |
| #7 Janes no good on Kindle. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-09-07 14:50 |
| #6 I read about a book a week. I love my Kindle, but there's also something good about having a real book in your hands |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-09-07 12:11 |
| #5 There was a great scene from the 1990 movie "Black Robe", possibly based on a written account in the Jesuit Relations of the 1600's. In the scene, unsophisticated native Americans were confronted with the "magic" of written communications in a way that they could immediately understood. They called it the work of the devil. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2015-09-07 11:26 |
| #4 True. Ebooks are convient books. They weight almost nothing, I can get a new one delivered in seconds, and they don't get wet, dirty, or torn. If I had to haul around all the reference books I have on my iPad I'd need a pallet and forklift. OTOH some of the formatting could use some improvement. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2015-09-07 01:22 |
| #3 E-books are still books. They should worry about people who don't read. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-09-07 01:13 |
| #2 Analog reading material fits in my pocket, doesn't break if I sit on it, doesn't matter much if I forget it on the hammock & it rains, and can even double as toilet paper in a pinch. And no EMF pulse worries... |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2015-09-07 01:07 |
| #1 “If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.” - Plato (commenting on the technology of writing - as in 'books') |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-09-07 00:52 |