THE FALL OF PRINTED BOOKS By Mohammed Salman

Do you remember the last time you actually picked up any book, opened it just because you want to read and learn something or you are bored and have nothing to do; and started reading it just to pass the time?

If you cannot remember then you are one of those majority people in this world who does not want to or do not like to read books.

Many people do not know but to learn something and have lasting impression of it; you must have a printed form of any source of knowledge (i.e. books, newspaper, and magazines)

According to a study conducted in 2019, only 72% of adult males in United States (that is 7 out of 10) say that they have read a book in any form (printed or online) in the past year. That is very low book reading time if you think about it. With the introduction of e-books and audiobooks, many of the hard to find books are available online (some are free to download while others can be purchased online). This is I think is the main reason that reading the printed book reading have become less rare in our society. According to same study, 25% read an e-book and only 20% of adult males listen to an audiobook. The reason is audiobooks and e-books do not attract attention of the reader unlike printed books which motivates reader to read more.

Analyzing these statistics we can conclude that not only the printed books are regressing but also our coming generation will become more relied on the internet and therefore lose their ability to think and imagine creatively.

Now let us talk about some of the major advantages of reading from a printed book over soft copy. The advantages of reading from printed books over e-books or audiobooks is that it is easier to read a printed book because you do not have to constantly look at a computer or tablet screen on hours end which have very bad effects on your health. Reading a book from a computer screen effects mental stability i.e. you lose imagination, and the radiation from computer screen can cause harmful effects on you.

Another advantage of reading from a printed is that it leaves a lasting impression on you and you remember the lesson or the theme of that book for a very long time. The reason it leaves its impression on your brain is because firstly they are easier on the eyes meaning the eyes does not get affected by the constant brightness of the computer screen and you will be less likely to get distracted.

When you read a book from a computer, there are many other distractions on that computer or tablet like games, social media, incoming calls or messages which makes you lose focus on the book you are reading. Secondly when you read a printed book, it motivates you to read more and therefore by reading more you will learn more.

A very interesting fact to know about printed books is that there Battery never runs out like a tablet or a computer. You can just read whenever you want and how much you want. An American journalist and a novelist named Ernest Hemingway said that

“There is no friend as loyal as a book”

It is very interesting to think that how can a book be a friend. Well! In my opinion; much like a true friend in real life; when you read a book, you forget about your personal problems for a while and it reduces mental stress. A very famous quote by Stephan King is

“Books are uniquely portable magic”.

I think this quote is very accurate. When you read a book, you can just transport to whole new world where you see yourself as a character in that world. A point to note here is that this effect is more powerful when you read a printed book and not a soft copy of it on a computer screen. This is because the mind is not calibrated to remember everything on a soft copy because it does not provide us with a special ability called spatial navigability. Our brains are calibrated to locate and find our way so when we read a printed book, we remember the page numbers, our feeling during reading a book and physical cues which leaves an impression on our brains. 

Let me share my personal life story with you guys. When I was in school, as a part of my subject, it was compulsory to read and fully understand the plot of the book. I remember reading a novel in school called the hound of Baskervilles which became one of my favorite novels as a student. One of my assignments after reading a page or two in a day was to take out hard words and use a dictionary to find meanings and synonyms of those words. By repeating this process, it not only increased my vocabulary but also helped me to develop a reading habit.

Reading that book in school and at home improved my reading abilities and it led me to read more novels like the Harry potter series by J.K Rowling, Lord of the rings series and novels by Dan Brown like Inferno, Lost symbol, Deception point and Da Vinci Code. By reading from a printed book, I remember all the plots and characters.

As started studying in university, many of the books I was referred were either available online or the teacher gave them as a soft copy. By reading from soft copy, even though I was able pass through my examinations and get good grades, the things that I learned did not leave a lasting impression and I started to forget the things I learned just after few months.

Any person who wants to excel and achieve his/ her goals in life should read from any source they can read from. My suggestion for you guys is to read as much as possible. Try to learn from books as much as you can because the more you learn, more you will have a chance for better future.