So where have all the readers gone?
I recently did an unofficial survey of my close family, a cross section of ages and backgrounds. I simply questioned the last time any one of the family members sat down and read a book, turned the pages and enjoyed the written word on paper.
To my astonishment only a few members had read any kind of publication or book since high school. So I applied math to the result and found only 15% of my survey subjects read books. (a good basic number to be aware of if you are a writer)
I suppose in this day and age of technology and the incessant need for instant gratification in the newer generations the results are not that much of a surprise. Even this blog falls in the same category.
Currently, I am working on a novel and to make sure that the facts contained in the novel I had to do some scientific research. I could have easily "googled" the information but I decided it would be much more fun to hunt down the information I was looking for in the library's reference sections. As detective sleuth would track down any information pertaining to the case I tracked down the information I needed to support the technical parts of my story.
Along the way, I encountered curious other library attendees, some inhabitants were there to read, some to research and some to just evade the cold outside. One of these frigid weather evaders asked me what I was doing so I explained. The returning comment was "why not just google the information". My reply was simple, "If I had googled the information then I would not have met an interesting character such as yourself"
My point is, reading, writing and researching is not just satisfying and relaxing, but it also gets us in touch with our fellow man in person. Entirely the opposite to the technologically obsessed generation of today that communicate with their thumbs.
I recently did an unofficial survey of my close family, a cross section of ages and backgrounds. I simply questioned the last time any one of the family members sat down and read a book, turned the pages and enjoyed the written word on paper.
To my astonishment only a few members had read any kind of publication or book since high school. So I applied math to the result and found only 15% of my survey subjects read books. (a good basic number to be aware of if you are a writer)
I suppose in this day and age of technology and the incessant need for instant gratification in the newer generations the results are not that much of a surprise. Even this blog falls in the same category.
Currently, I am working on a novel and to make sure that the facts contained in the novel I had to do some scientific research. I could have easily "googled" the information but I decided it would be much more fun to hunt down the information I was looking for in the library's reference sections. As detective sleuth would track down any information pertaining to the case I tracked down the information I needed to support the technical parts of my story.
Along the way, I encountered curious other library attendees, some inhabitants were there to read, some to research and some to just evade the cold outside. One of these frigid weather evaders asked me what I was doing so I explained. The returning comment was "why not just google the information". My reply was simple, "If I had googled the information then I would not have met an interesting character such as yourself"
My point is, reading, writing and researching is not just satisfying and relaxing, but it also gets us in touch with our fellow man in person. Entirely the opposite to the technologically obsessed generation of today that communicate with their thumbs.
RSS Feed