A man named Mortimer J. Adler once said “Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life (Reading Quotes).” Is this really a true statement though? Is everything in our lives revolved around reading? Some people don’t think so, but this paper isn’t about the death of all text in the world. No, this paper is only stating why books should not exist anymore. All books should be disposed of, even if people claim they are more relaxing and enjoyable.
Many people impose reading is a waste of time. In a recent poll taken in Mrs. Arnold’s tenth grade English honors class, fifteen percent of the teenagers said that they didn’t like to read. The reasons given were they either didn’t have time, couldn’t concentrate enough, or that books were just boring (Mrs. Arnold’s Class Survey). These are problems they have with reading though and not with the books themselves. The main reason books are a waste of time is that in many books things are learned that a normal person would never use in their lifetime. The other people may rebuttal saying you never know what a person may use in life. Even if they do learn something from their reading though, there is a great chance they won’t remember it. How would they use what they can’t remember? Also who has time to read these useless stories in today’s society? There are those who do read that say books are a good escape from reality, but in today’s society people should be keeping their minds on more important things instead of living in a fairy tale. Nowadays how can people be expected to read when most are too busy to do anything else? And when most people do have extra time, they usually end up watching television.
As stated most people prefer technology. Technology has advanced and we no longer need to use paper and ink held together by glue to record our information. Technology such as the Internet is faster and gets right to the point unlike books. On the Internet, preferences can be set, such as lighting and font size, to make things easier to read. Books in contrast are usually too heavy, too floppy, the print is too small, or they have an unusually font type which makes it unattractive to read (Jordan). The world is evolving and almost everything is computerized. The way society is now almost every person has a computer and almost every computer has high- speed Internet. If people don’t have these things, it is about time they did. The world is becoming more futuristic as we speak and everyone has to try to keep up. Books take up so much space as well (Jordan). Think of all the books that are read once or twice and then sit on a shelf for the rest of eternity. People may also say books are still enjoyable even if they do cause all of this, but like stated before sometimes television is easier and just as good. A movie can be just as interesting as a book as well with the graphics they have now. Some people may say that the movies are never as good as the books, but if there were no more books, writers could write better scripts for movies as an alternative to posting books on the Internet. So there are many ways that books could be put into a technological form which would help the world’s society in many ways.
In the same context the disposal of books would save the environment. If the world were to get rid of all the books and instead put the information on the Internet, the environment would be substantially bettered. Trees that should still be in the ground putting clean air into the atmosphere are being cut down for paper. With all the copies of books that have to be made to fill consumers want, our forest decrease faster and faster. The trees get sent to power plants to make more paper, and all these power plants release gas into the air and dump waste into our water supply. Shortening the amount of paper needed by simply putting all of the information on the web would help the world have cleaner air and water. The unused books could even be recycled. If the environment was bettered, then maybe there would be less sickness, disease, and death as well. It stands to reason that getting rid of books would be a good thing for the environment.
Additionally the action of getting rid of all books would save many people a lot of money. Many books are expensive these days (Jordan). A book may be especially costly if it is in a series causing a person to want to buy the rest of the series in addition. With many people being low on money these days, books are out of budget. Some people may say that different books are different prices, but in the long run a person is still paying money for something they may only read a few times. They also may say that the more books that are bought the more the economy grows. That also may be true, but why can’t society come up with better ways to sell literature without making any more books? Going back to technology, they could sell software that has literature on it instead of programs or they could put an entrance cost on literature websites. The software could help the schools so that way they could buy one copy per subject and download it on all of the computers. By not having to buy so many books, it would save the schools a lot of many. Literature sites could hold more than one “book” and there could be different sites for different genres. If a book is popular enough, it could even have its own site.
In conclusion, it is for the sake of the people that all books should be disposed of. Books everywhere are a waste of time and hurt the environment. Technology is better than books and switching would save everyone money as well. The point of this thesis is that people think that the world needs to keep books and think that books are the center of all knowledge, but there are a lot of alternatives to books now. Hundreds of years ago books were thought to be cutting edge, and compared to stone they were (Jordan). Now computers are on top and books are no longer needed. In history things that are obsolete are always thrown out. Doesn’t it make sense that society should dispose of books now too?