[Dominus]

I'm 16, and let me just say, my generation(GENERALLY) is irresponsible, disrespectful, and readerless. In my generation, if you read books, you're a dork, and that's it. I don't know what it is, did my parents' generation not teach most kids to love reading or what? Reading is one of the best things in life, go into distant lands of magic and myth, go on epic quests, feel the sorrow of loss, the elation of victory, the bittersweet ending of a good book (sure it had a good ending, but you wanted it to last longer). It makes me sad that all my generation wants to do is to listen to the next CD or watch the movies everyone else sees instead of laying on the couch and reading a good book.

[ChrisW]

computers and game consoles at young age = books are so boring!!!!!!!!!

[JohnH]

I certainly do not think this is a phenomenon that has suddenly developed in a new generation. My generation (in my thirties), was and is quite the same. Amidst a rather smart and in many cases brilliant peer group, I was always shocked that none read for pleasure. None really pursued knowledge just for fun. I remember one whiz who know is a rather well known surgeon who was amazed that I actually had read about King Henry and knew all of his wives, their fates etc. None of this knowledge gained for a test or a report or a paper. It totally boggled her mind.

Reading for some reason has always been viewed with some suspicion by the majority.
Even those who 'read' the flavor of the month whether it is Grisham, Steele or Oprah's pick look at the rest of us with amusement scorn or askance that we read as vorasciously as we do.

I don't know how many friends and aquaintainces remark ' you read a lot, don't you' in a kind of accusatory though usually not condemning tone. Like I am doing something not quite right. Sort of like 'you don't go out much' or 'you don't talk much'.

Like it is some trait that you could overcome if you really wanted to but is not a bad enough habit that makes people think you need help.

Perhaps it is a leftover trait in our society where the masses were better left un read and therefore more accepting of social leaders guidance? Something the church and state have imposed in countless societies through time whether it is in the East or the West.

In any case they just don't know what they are missing. Imagine a feast of the inner eye. One that reveals new vistas and realms that only you can truly see. You can can't you? 'Cause you read.

[Dominus]

Believe me, I am HEAVILY into video games (GAMECUBE!!!) and computers(Web Design, Graphic Design, Networking etc.), books are better. With books you can go ANYWHERE, while games and computers are only limited to how the guys that program them want you to see them. Just plain better.

[Dominus]

JohnH, you are awesome. That is exactly what it is, my generation studies for the next test or quiz and that's it. Basically, if they haven't learned it in school, they know very little about it. People in my generation are generally smarter than the last, as the next generation will be smarter than mine. But, our thirst for knowledge is limited to what our teachers want, not to our own minds.

[Metosblat]

I've just finished my senior year so I can identify with this anti-intellectualism that seems to be growing at an exponential rate.
Hopefully the Harry Potter books(even though they suck) will prevent the next generation from receeding into the stupid zone.

My friends at school make fun of me because I read Encyclopedias and History books.
Probably only about 1 out of 9 people have read a book over 200 pages in my year.

[Alucard]

A large reason why I think this generation doesn't like reading is because of school. To be honest, I hated reading for most of my life. I just got into it about three years ago. The reason I always despised reading was because I always related it to work, and 95% of the books that we read in school were not enjoyable. They were books like the scralet letter, which I thought (and still think!) were about as entertaining as getting punhced in the face. We were always fed classic after classic, which I have only come across two out of the entire lot that I really liked. If teachers would maybe offer more enjoyable books, to first prove that reading can actually be enjoyable, then I think they'd have a lot more success. But with the current technique, it doesn't surprise me that it doesn't catch on.

Another reason for the lack of reading, is that there are many alternatives that are much simpler. Reading actually takes a little effort. You must consider the words on the page and not only understand them, but picture them, and no one can do this for you. But with television and movies, you simply watch. There's no effort involved, which is why people are quick to jump to that. It's an easy solution. But my theory is that because a book requires a little effort on your part is why they are often times far more absorbing than a movie or t.v. It feels more personal and more like an experience, rather than something that you are simply watching in a box. Instead of sitting in the sidelines, your within the action, even knowing the thoughts and minds of the people involved. The only problem is, most people who don't read don't understand this. And the only way to open their eyes is for them to read a great book. It was the only thing that worked with me...

[Dominus]

I totally agree with you that school is a major factor for why my generation doesn't read. I know that if I have to read anything for school I'm immediately biased against it no matter what. Kids become so biased towards book they'll even read a good one, yet never admit it was. If they could just get past their bias of books being for dorks and schoolwork, they open worlds unto themselves.

[Shehzad]

I've just graduated from medical school, and amongst my 250-strong class, I was nly one of 4 or 5 serious readers. The others were too involved in our coursework to have time to do anything else. Their free time was similarly occupied in mind-numbing activites like games, movies and chit-chat. They never understood, my NEED to read--except at times when they needed a speech written or a document looked over http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif. I tried hard to popularize books and I may have succeeded to a limited extent, but it is true that reading is work and reading good books is even harder work. Unless people are made to realize how much they can gain from this expediture of time and energy, not just in enjoyment but also in enhancing one's self, they *will*not* read.

[Shadowen]

How many of us have been looked at in mild disgust because we happen to be reading a book that's bigger than a magazine? On a recent stay in hospital I had Tad William's MST series to keep me company. I lost count of the number of people (patients, nurses and doctors!)who looked disgustedly at me and made fatuous remarks - 'I couldn't read something that big'; 'how can you be bothered with books' etc etc before turning back to their magazines and endless discussions of soap opera storylines! I just don't understand these people! I suppose, though, that I was lucky in that both my parents are voracious readers and they passed that love of books on to me.