I have been wondering recently if books mean as much to the children of today as they did to me in my schooldays. There are many more options now when it comes to entertainment and education and many of these resources are conveniently available in the home, so perhaps the competition has devalued books and reading.
This extract from the novelist Storm Jameson's collection of literary essays Parthian Words supports the proposition that you can sometimes have too much of a good thing and suggests that there is still a place for traditional-style reading:
“We need the slower and more lasting stimulus of solitary reading as a relief from the pressure on eye, ear and nerves of the torrent of information and entertainment pouring from ever-open electronic jaws. It could end by stupefying us.”
This was written in 1970; it is even more relevant in the days of modern media, the Internet and AI.
Too much choice, too much information, can be as bad as too little. In addition to overwhelming and stupefying people, it can destroy their ability to concentrate on one thing for more than a few minutes at a time.
This book contains Storm Jameson's thoughts about novels and the future of novel reading:
