Does anyone read or write anymore?

[Doug T.]

Hi All!
I went to a book sale this past weekend, and got A LOT of books, both photo books and novels.
Some of the books I have doubles of, so I tried to sell the doubles on-line. Cheap. No lookers, no takers.

I was talking to the fellow at the Post Office about the lack of interest, he claims that it's because of e-books.
One thing led to another, and somewhere in the course of our conversation, he tells me that one of the reasons that the USPS is in trouble, is a lack of personal, 1st class mail being sent out.

It seems that there's been a ca. 30% drop in magazines, letters, and post cards over the last couple of years. That's pretty sad

What's really sad is that I'm as bad as the rest! I used to take pride in my having a good vocabulary, in being able to spell, and my ability to carry on an intelligent conversation.
I've been reduced to e-books, e-mails, and having to use a spell checker more often than I should!!
It's pretty sad indeed.
Sorry for rambling on, I had to get if off of my chest.

Doug

[PeterW]

Hi Doug,

No need to apologise for rambling on. It’s a subject quite dear to my heart, and I’m sorry to say that the situation is much the same in the UK. What worries me is that a fair proportion of male teenagers leaving State secondary schools at 16 years old are either illiterate or, at best, only semi-literate.

Earlier this year the Confederation of British Industry stated that many of its members had started conducting short literacy tests on 16-year-olds applying for their first job. They had to read a short passage and then answer five questions about it. This is part of Key Stage 2 for 9 to 10 year olds in the National Curriculum. The results were dismal. Many of the questions were answered with wild guesses and the writing was peppered with spelling mistakes and atrocious grammar. Some were even answered in “short form” widely used in cell phone text messages. Quite a few, I’ve forgotten the percentage now, were not literate enough to use the company forms that went with restocking supermarket shelves – not the most erudite of occupations.

So, unless these lads take purely labouring jobs such as digging the road or sweeping the pavements, they are going to live on State benefits, the so-called job seeker’s allowance. The trouble here is that the allowance pays them almost as much as a labouring job. They have to apply for at least one job a fortnight so they walk round the jobs vacant board and pick a couple that they know they haven’t got a hope in hell of getting.

But, they’ve gone through the motions so they continue to receive their living allowance and spend their days either watching TV or playing on games consoles or sitting in the pub sending and receiving text messages on their phones and making a pint of lager last a couple of hours. They all seem to have saved enough money to get a cell phone, a laptop computer and a games console. What will happen to them as they get older I just don’t know.

PeterW

[Deleted]

I haven't bought a print book since last Christmas when I got a Kindle--I have a library of several dozen books for it (my kids give Amazon gift cards for birthday and Fathers Day to get books).

There are a couple of monthly bills we pay by mail but most bills are paid on line. There is only one person I correspond with by mail and that's a 90-year--old author I know from my editing days who has refused to embrace computers.

When we go to Europe this fall I'm taking a netbook so we can send pictures home during our travels (the river cruise boat has wifi. I did promise our granddaughter I will send her at least one postcard. Thirty years ago if someone went on a trip more that 100 miles from home there wasn't much communication done until they returned. Too expensive.

When I was a kid in the 1950s receiving (or making) a long distance call was a major EVENT. Such calls were too expensive to make on a whim. I think the first time I said "the hell with it" and made a spontaneous LD call was when I was a college student and heard President Kennedy had been assassinated. That was toget some reassurance from my parents 300 miles away.

I probably don't check my on line writing as well as I should. But just because you are sending emails doesn't mean you can't use proper sentence structure and grammar. I do not text or tweet, however, a God willing, I never will.

If the U.S. Postal Service had been managed by some creative people back when the Wide World Web started, they might have figured out some ways to embrace the technology. But the P.S. has long been the ultimate bureaucracy and I'm sure the initial reaction to the Internet was "Well, we've never done it that way before. Why should we change now?"

For years the Post Office had a government-protected monopoly on mail delivery so it could make the rules and postal patrons could either like it or lump it. Electronics changed the entire paradigm. With, email, fax, texting and phones with no long distance fees there aren't that many situations where standard mail is necessary. People don't want to wait several days for a letter to go to the other side of the country (or world) and then wait several more days to receive a reply.

Private businesses have had to make huge changes because of the Internet. Some have benefited from the changes. Others, like the Post Office and many magazine and newspapers, haven't. As a former newspaper editor, however, I tend to believe the problem there isn't in how the news is delivered by in the lack of content in today's papers.

When all this started happening I said the printed word (and film cameras) would not be replaced by electronics--at least in my lifetime, But it already has happened in many areas of communication and the just about the only thing that could stop it would be a huge, world-wide Elctro Magnetic Pulse that would fry all the electronics and force us to return to pencils, pens, slide rules, mechanical typewriters and adding machines.

[daveh]

I buy books. I sometimes read them too. They are in boxes, too many boxes, here, there and everywhere. Why my father-in-law died the 'family' were going to ditch his books, photos and records. Well I've got them. Ditto with those of my parents.

One really good thing on this forum is the high percentage who understand English and its usage.

USPS have to adapt to the changing times. It's no good being dinosaurs and thinking post is it, they should be getting in on the new technologies and moving with them.

[Doug T.]

I agree with all of you.

I don't have a problem with e-books, etc. As a matter of fact I'd love to have a Kindle.

I do find it sad, however, that we are raising a generation that seems to be unable to function without all the electronics!
Take away the electronic toys, and they go into a panic!!

If anyone wants to see what a sad state our "western culture" is in, spend some time on facebook. It's an eye opener.

Doug

[Rachel]

I still buy books, although not fiction, and borrow regularly from the local public library. Sorry, but I'm not interested in e-books. I don't want to sit at the computer reading books and the e-book readers I've seen look awfully small. Anyway I like to get away from the computer and to me an e-book reader is just another computer.

[tsiya]

I still prefer real paper books. I read a lot and buy most of the books from my favorite thrift shop, books for 50 cents, and where I also find some nice old cameras. It's a 30 mile round trip to the library and I can't check out enough to keep reading between trips to town.

[Doug T.]

I still prefer paper books as well.
Our local library has a sale once a month to help support itself, so I usually go.
I buy a lot of "how to" and history books, but I also have a weakness for vintage science fiction paperbacks. Sometimes for the cover art, sometimes just to read.
It's for me also a ca. 30 mile round trip, but a good excuse to get the scooter out and go socialize

Doug

[mickeyobe]

I am a bookworm from way, way back. I still have a copy of "Mary, John and Peter", The Ontario Readers Primer of 1933. Price 6¢, from which I learned to read at 6 years old in first grade although I do not remember ever being taught to read. It seems I always could.

I was a sickly child (I survived everything) and whenever I was ill my father would bring me another book which I ravenously devoured. I recall the boys' adventure books by Roy J. Snell and the Dr. Doolittle books by Hugh Lofting (I am still anxious to see a real live pushmi-pullyu.) which I used to read with a flashlight, under the covers. There was the fascinating "The Amulet" by Edith Nesbit. Then there were the beautifully illustrated books about almost everything by Maud and Miska Petersham. I read all of their books that my local public library had or could obtain for me from its other branches. The wonderful books by Ernest Thompson Seton were as a magic carpet to the natural world. I even read Tolstoy's War and peace without understanding a single word. But I started it so I finished it.

I read history, biography, adventure, art, archaeology, literature and comic books and "Pocket" books. Soup can and cereal box labels, newspapers, magazines, DIY manuals and, of course, photography books. Anything else that appeared before my eyes was fair game.

I am still an avid reader. When reading a book my finger is always under the slightly raised corner of the page I am reading in anticipation of what is overleaf. I wasn't aware of this until my son pointed it out.

I like the feel and look of a hardcover's binding and the heft of a book and the look of a shelf full of books. Should I accidentally drop a book I need not fear a replacement expenditure of several hundred dollars.

I used to have many more books but I started divesting myself of them when my cameras edged them off their shelves. But I know they are still in good hands.



I tried reading a book on one of my grandson's electronic devices. It is not at all to my liking.

Mickey (Luddite)

[Randy]

I still read mysteries. Who dunnits.

[vintageslrs]

Yes, still a book fan.....
Many sports books, car books and civil war books...
and then we throw in some Tom Clancy books, etc.
Something about owning the book with the cover and touch factor.
Wayne, I don't know anything about Kindle...tell me, once you buy a book for a Kindle...do you own it forever? And is there the same satisfaction as "owning a book"?

Bob

[Doug T.]

Randy,
I picked up a couple of them at the last sale.
A "Perry Mason" case book containing four novels, and "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" with all four novels and all the short stories.
I paid a buck a piece for them.
Most of the paperbacks I buy for the cover art, some I keep, some I sell, the others go to the paperback exchange that I also frequent.
I've known the owner since grade school, many moons ago, but she still won't let me trade for any Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff; I have to buy those outright.
I've told her that she's a stinker, she just laughs at me and says I'm cheap. She's right ;D

Doug

[Deleted]

If I was getting a nonfiction book on a historical topic I would buy a real book and none of the E readers d that well with photos and illustrations. But the readers are great for fiction--which is mostly text. I think the last magazine I purchased was one of the last paper copies of PC Magazine several years ago. I don't think I have purchased more than two of three magazines in the past 15 years.

[tsiya]

Interesting point Mickey, I can't remember being taught to read either. I remember sitting on my grandfather's lap with a book a lot, but have no memory of learning in school, it just happened.
Before I retired I reviewed a lot of employment applications. The number of semi literate high school graduates is amazing. Math skills are in bad shape too.

[photax]

Although I am 46 years old, my reading and writing behaviour is old-fashioned, I still prefer books made of good old paper. The pocket books for travelling and lunch break and the hardcover books for art books and world literature. I can not imagine to read Dostojewski, or Dante for instance on an electronic device. I also like to rummage trough antique book shops, it could happen that I get lost there for hours. All my historic photo-related books never would be available in electronic format. If I am not writing posts and emails, I prefer a pencil, maybe a fountain pen and a sheet of paper. I know times are changing fast, but I remain true to myself.

MIK