How many books do you read a year? (Hey, relax. It's just a rhetorical question, okay?).
To tell you the truth, books are not in vogue these days - come to think of it, they've never been popular before. Ordinary people couldn't afford to buy them. (Just consider the situation in the 1800s or even in the first half of the 20th century, not to mention that a book could cost more than 40 sheep in the Middle Age!).
Things seem different now in many ways. Books have become cheaper than ever and the literacy rates have been increasing globally, which doesn't necessarily mean that we live in a sort of "Readers Era" or something like that. We do not. Definitely. In the USA, for instance, only 5 hours and 42 minutes are spent with reading per week per person. Here in Brazil, it's even worse: 5 hours and 12 minutes. Moreover, each american has read 5.5 books on average a year (brazilians have been reading 4.96). It's disappointing, don't you think?
As if it weren't already bad enough, many people are one-single-book readers. They think it's a big, huge deal - "wow, we've been reading the Book!" - but, in my opinion, it closes their minds and becomes them more bigoted, more intolerant.
As the actor Billy Connoly once said, "Never trust people who've only got one fucking book".
To tell you the truth, books are not in vogue these days - come to think of it, they've never been popular before. Ordinary people couldn't afford to buy them. (Just consider the situation in the 1800s or even in the first half of the 20th century, not to mention that a book could cost more than 40 sheep in the Middle Age!).
Things seem different now in many ways. Books have become cheaper than ever and the literacy rates have been increasing globally, which doesn't necessarily mean that we live in a sort of "Readers Era" or something like that. We do not. Definitely. In the USA, for instance, only 5 hours and 42 minutes are spent with reading per week per person. Here in Brazil, it's even worse: 5 hours and 12 minutes. Moreover, each american has read 5.5 books on average a year (brazilians have been reading 4.96). It's disappointing, don't you think?
As if it weren't already bad enough, many people are one-single-book readers. They think it's a big, huge deal - "wow, we've been reading the Book!" - but, in my opinion, it closes their minds and becomes them more bigoted, more intolerant.
As the actor Billy Connoly once said, "Never trust people who've only got one fucking book".
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