If you're too lazy to read books...

My childhood was spent in the countryside. Back then, a book was a cherished dream, a source of childhood happiness behind the bamboo hedges of our village. In those days, news, literature, music, general science ... everything came through the loudspeaker at the edge of the village. Luckily for us, the youth groups in our villages often had their own libraries, and we kids could borrow books freely, on the condition that we took good care of them. If we accidentally bent or soiled a book, the person in charge would scold us and forbid us from borrowing again. The first book I ever read was *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, given to me by an official who had evacuated to the village during the American bombing raids. Even now, decades later, I still remember the illustrations vividly.

Photo: GC

When I was away from home studying in Hanoi , the only place I could find materials for my essays and graduation theses was the library. I'd search for necessary books and magazines, select the information I needed, and jot it down. The familiar scene back then was students either holed up in the library or borrowing books to go to a secluded spot, diligently flipping through pages and taking notes. Reading helped us forget the constant hunger of being students. We gleefully distorted a line from an ancient Chinese poem: " All professions are inferior, only reading is noble!"

Around the 1990s, when the country was just opening up, people became familiar with the image of "backpacking tourists." These travelers, laden with huge backpacks, confidently traveled everywhere, carrying a Lonely Planet travel guide. Hotel owners and food vendors would shake their heads in defeat when faced with these tourists, charging prices higher than those indicated in the guidebooks!

Then times changed with the advent of the Internet. On November 19, 1997, the Internet officially arrived in Vietnam. Since then, as technology has developed and life has become more hectic, people have less and less time for reading. Therefore, on February 24, 2014, the Prime Minister signed a decision designating April 21st as Vietnam Book Day. Subsequently, to promote a more widespread reading culture, on November 4, 2021, the Prime Minister decided to organize Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day, replacing the previous Vietnam Book Day.

In my personal opinion, despite countless creative activities by local authorities aimed at fostering a passion for reading, the number of readers seems to be steadily declining. The habit of reading remains a luxury in this fast-paced life. Printed newspapers are shrinking at an alarming rate; even the bestselling novels and works by Nobel laureates are only printed in limited quantities of a few thousand copies at a time. Bookstores now sell a wide variety of goods and offer free, cool reading rooms, but they rarely attract customers.

If that's the case, then it's understandable, because each era has its own demands. In today's digital age, we can't expect people to painstakingly flip through pages of documents. The entire treasure trove of human knowledge, from A to Z, has been digitized and is readily available online; anything you need to use or learn about can be accessed with just a few simple clicks. That Lonely Planet guidebook has long since become a memory, because everything you need for travel is already on your phone…

Therefore, it's not surprising if people read fewer books. Classic authors are merely relics of a bygone generation. Today's young generation has poor handwriting from being used to typing on computers, and they will likely find it increasingly difficult to express themselves because their vocabulary is so limited from reading.

That's a general trend, and it's hard to resist.

MERCURY

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/202504/neu-co-luoi-doc-sach-10b4e07/