A few days ago, one of my teachers suggested that we write about reading. First thing I was reminded of was a quotation by Ray Bradbury from his book Fahrenheit 450: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”
Undoubtedly, with the rapid growth of technology, reading culture is vanishing fast. People argue that in this digital age, when everything is available in social media platforms, why anyone would choose to read books. However, one thing they miss is that books provide focused reading. Reading from the book enhances knowledge, vocabulary, critical thinking and analytical skills, besides developing qualities such as problem-solving, decision-making and writing skills.
New technological tools like AI have already diminished our creativity and analytical capabilities; and if there are no book readers, soon there will be no difference between humans and animals.
Saqib Jamali
Hyderabad
