Slow Death of Good Reading??

The other day, I went to a leading bookshop. I wanted to take advantage of the discounts offered by the shop. I went to the Helpdesk and asked for a famous book written by Milton Friedman. To the uninitiated, Milton Friedman was one of the most distinguished economists who won the Nobel Prize in 1976. He had passed away sometime back and hence the renewed interest in his work. I asked the executive whether the shop had any books of Milton Friedman. Milton, who? (ala Noel who?) was the look on the executive’s face. Then I told him that Milton Friedman was an economist. The executive admonished me and said, ‘Sir, aisa koi nahin hai. Aap shayad Thomas Friedman ki baat kar rahe ho?’ I said an emphatic NO. Again for the uninitiated, Thomas Friedman’s book is one of the best-sellers now—hence the interest in the executive to sell the book.

A week back, I met a young student, who happens to live in my building. I saw a copy of ‘Shantaram’ in his hands. I asked him if he read a lot. He said that he was a voracious reader and he loved reading non-fiction. I politely asked him which the best non-fictional work was, he had read. He replied, ’Shantaram – so much so that I am reading it again.’ ‘Have you read the books of Richard Feynman and Milton Friedman? Have you read the book, ‘The Gulag Archipelago? The diary of Anne Frank?’ He replied in the negative. I came back rather puzzled. Have we lost the habit of reading good non-fiction books? I am afraid, yes!

Coming to Milton Friedman’s book, I was exposed to the book during my college days. I was not an economics student, but like many others of my age then, loved to read well-written books. This particular book was recommended to me as a must-read by one of my professors. This book opened up a completely new world of free markets, when they were merely words. The book is so well written that it makes sense to most people. That is the power of good writing!

My interest in Feynman’s writings also started during my college days. Richard Feynman was two of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, the other was of course Einstein. In my view, he was also one of the most outstanding teachers the world has ever produced. My professor had couple of books by Feynman. Those were essentially lecture notes. Once I read them, I was hooked. His thought process was so vividly clear that he could teach physics to a man on the street. Perhaps, this teaching style evolved from his own interest in paintings and music. Reading those lecture notes have been some of the exhilarating experiences in my life.

Why don’t people read Feynman any more? Why doesn’t Friedman interest anybody now? Regular readers haven’t even read Pico Iyer. Why? The answer to that is that reading quality has dropped. When we grew up, we were trained to read. Reading was an activity where one invested time. There was the neighborhood library that was the treasure of good literature. Of course, the footpaths of King Circle and Flora Fountain also helped. We looked forward to saving the extra pocket money to go and search for those elusive titles. Sadly, the youngsters of today no longer grow up in that culture. They take to reading as an escapist route. No longer do they read for assimilation. There is enough to do in a day, reading can’t be fitted in! The Big Bosses and the Aaj Taks have replaced quality reading. Enough of crass has permeated into our consciousness and our longing for more crass has only increased. I liken it to the Cola drinks—the more you drink, your thirst increases and you end up consuming a lot of cola! Because reading standards have dropped, writing standards have also dropped. That is a dangerous thing because the generations ahead will suffer because of this decline.

The other day, I was carrying this book by Art Buchwald, which I was reading. Someone asked me, ‘Is this book about art?’ I smiled wryly. An old Rafi song came to my mind, ‘Kaise samjhaoon ………’ I was being harsh to myself. I should let this pass!