Books Can't Compete
Here’s a depressing and blunt comment from Larry McMurtry, speaking not only as a novelist but as a bookstore owner (it’s an interview):
The end of the culture of the book. I’m pessimistic. Mainly it’s the flow of people into my bookshop in Archer City. They’re almost always people over 40.
I don’t see kids, and I don’t see kids reading. I think little kids love to have stories read to them, but when they get to 10 or 11 or 12, they ...
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Most of the young people I know - admittedly a small sample - do read and enjoy reading. They also play games, have Iphones, etc. And I wonder whether the people who used to carve on clay tablets thought that papyrus was the end of the world (I mean, wouldn't it lead to a lot of rambling on rather than getting right to the point), or whether people who wrote on scrolls decried the advent of the page - after all, pages allowed individuals with short attention spans to put a book mark in and leave rather than having to just sit there until the scroll totally unwound??