Leader comment: No books not necessarily bad

One in ten households does not own a book, according to a report.

But while it can be reassuring to visit a friend and note the cornucopia of reading materials – from novels and history to dictionaries and maps and well-thumbed children’s books complete with scribbles and pages torn out – it is hugely important to bear in mind that not all learning comes from books.

Literacy and learning are hugely important but there are now so many ways to access information in the digital age. The internet has opened up countless opportunities and more information than ever before.

The issue is more about how people chose to receive their information – PCs, tablets and even smartphones can replace the book.

The fellow bus or train passenger may be reading Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song or the latest blockbuster on their Kindle, a device custom built to replace books.

The speed of access means the precise information we require may be far easier to access digitally than in a book. This does not mean people’s curiosity or thirst for knowledge has been quenched, more that we are living in an era where the public expect to have the world at their “digital” fingertips when and where the notion takes them.

Many will argue that nothing can compare to actually holding a book, turning the pages and looking at the illustrations and artwork.

But digital technology has given us an alternative way of doing most of that. We should not get too worked up about statistics on the dearth of books. In many ways these figures only suggest what we should expect.