Reading for pleasure

Every day more than 1.8 million books are sold in the US and another half a million books are sold in the UK. Despite all the other easy distractions available to us today, there's no doubt that many people still love reading. Books can teach us plenty about the world, of course, as well as improving our vocabularies and writing skills. But can fiction also make us better people?

When public discourse denigrates expertise, when politicians and Twitter trolls alike have learned to dismiss every criticism or uncomfortable truth as "fake" and media outlets compete for clickbait headlines, it's not surprising to find a corresponding hunger for a deeper, more thoughtful form of engagement with ideas and for that - thankfully - there's still no better medium than a book.

It's no understatement that digital mediums have taken over every aspect of our lives. We check what our friends are doing on the glowing screens in our hands, read books on dedicated e-readers, and communicate with customers and clients primarily through email.  Read more

Authors have asked whether the novel will continue to exist in the future when competing against new entertainment trends such as online streaming and television box sets.  Read more

E-book devices like the Kindle and Nook have already changed the industry of publishing in their relatively short lives. Much as the iPod did with music, now authors can self-publish right from their laptops and readers can carry with them every book they own in something about the size and weight of a paperback.  Read more