Am găsit, azi, întâmplător, un citat interesant, “Cititul nu dăunează sănătății“. L-am găsit, inițial, pe Tritonic – Librărie virtuală, dar l-am regăsit, după o căutare pe Google, în mai multe locuri. Printre altele, se pare că elevii unui colegiu s-au înscris într-o activitate de voluntariat cu acest titlu. S-au plimbat pe străzi, au stresat trecătorii și au încercat să le insufle drag de carte. Mă întreb ce rată de succes au avut (poate că-s eu mai pesimist, dar nu mă aștept să fi rezolvat ceva).

Cum spuneam mai demult, simpla acțiune de a deschide o carte este privită cu indiferență, dezgust sau chiar repulsie. În plus, cei care posedă asemenea sentimente nici măcar nu fac distincție între o carte în format clasic sau e-book. Singurele cărți care-i interesează sunt cele de poker sau de cruce.

Totuși, spre a contrazice măcar parțial părerea celor de la Triton, cineva de aici e decis că acţiunea de a citi dăunează sănătăţii, dar nu grav. Probabil că s-a apucat să citească la lumina lumânării, lucru care nu este deloc indicat.

Voi încheia acest articol prin a enumera cărţile care sunt în lista mea de aşteptare pentru lecturat şi prin a-i mulţumi lui lupzburător încă o dată pentru gestul lui de a-mi dona cărţi. Parcă au fost sânge, dude

Aştept şi alte recomandări (şi cărţi în format digital, dacă aveţi).

O seară frumoasă şi lectură plăcută (celor care se mai ocupă cu acest sport).

Give me 26 soldiers of lead and I shall conquer the world.
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg

Typography, although unknown in Europe until Gutenberg’s invention, was already known in China even before the ninth century. However, it is Gutenberg who turned the public’s attention to it and succeeds, in a matter of a few hundred years, to shape a society where the majority would know how to read and write, something that before was considered the privilege of the clergy and, in a some cases, of the nobility.

In the time span since we’ve had the possibility to easily multiply texts, millions and millions of books have been printed, in even many more copies. The variety of the printed texts is simply astonishing, and the access to the books is no longer an issue, since we have public libraries everywhere.

The book, in its general acception, once it became a main instrument for education and information, didn’t stop there. There are books of any literary genre you would like to read, starting from philosophy and economy to leisure literature or for children.

Despite all this, I’ve noticed the book has entered in some kind of a relative vertiginous downfall. I could understand that the Internet offers means of education and information thus facilitating the acces to information, but the problem I talk about is that people, especially young people, don’t read. With no apparent reason, the Internet is limited to chating software and searches for flood programs. Hardly anyone is interested in e-books.

So I have to wonder: have I aged that much that it is already a case of generational conflict?

I know a pretty interesting case: one of my students literally bragged to me that he had never read a single book. I can’t believe it’s an isolated case, as I haven’t met many people who are interested in reading. When I was in highschool, in the twelfth grade, I had colleagues that spelled words before they read them. Is that normal?

In extremis, I could say we are facing a widespread case of read-o-phobia, although the reasons for this fobia are unknown to me.

Screw reading! A book’s pages are not even good for rolling your ciggarettes with them

P.S. for Gutenberg: your conquest is going to waste