ARE BOOKS BECOMING RUBBISH?

 

I am no cultural prophet of doom, by any means, but the evidence is there for all to see: the physical book, the one with pages and covers, letters and illustrations, and increasingly expensive price tags, may have its days numbered.

I know because I am witnessing something I would never have suspected in my youth: people getting rid of their libraries, as you can see in the picture my wife Rocío took yesterday evening of a nearby street dumpster.

In my youth, people coveted books. They kept them, treasured them, and passed them on. If my grandfather had seen this picture of books tossed into a garbage bin, he would not have believed his eyes. I find it hard to believe mine.

Those who bemoan the evident fact that people are reading less and less perhaps turn a blind eye to the more disturbing question: is the problem reading, or is it the book itself?

Why? Television, mobile phones, iPads and e-readers may be some of the culprits. But there is something else worth pondering.

In 1900, the literacy rate in Spain was about 41 percent; in Portugal, only 26 percent. Today, both countries are close to 99 percent. Yet few people seem to read.

So what exactly do we mean by literacy? Is being able to read the same thing as being a reader?

With your kind permission, I shall return to this question soon.