The figures are shocking, and while there are signs that reading is a favorite past-time (mentioned in your post), I’d hazard to guess that you and I live in a world that cannot comprehend the absence of literature and reading from our every day lives. So we may be struck by signs we expect to see, like the development of bookstores as places to browse and meet, and we don’t pick up on those signs that point to a decline in reading, such as cultural and language impediments to reading (my wife is from Guatemala, and very few of her relatives have even a small number of books in their houses).

I was raised in an environment where education and books were at the very center of daily life. The culture of the book must never be lost.