(blog)

“Reading is one of the sources of thinking and mental development,” said V. Sukhomlinsky. And it’s hard to disagree with him. After all, in all times of mankind, the book was a source of knowledge; everything was taken from it – from recipes to the great history. In today’s world, people appreciate books less and less, replacing them with social networks, TVs and other new things. However, the evolution of technology has captured the book, creating e-books that allow the book to “stay afloat.”

Once upon a time, there were grand kingdoms and sloppy swamps, the ups and downs, in our country; the book was a real work of art. Not every noble man could afford it, not speaking about a commoner. It took more than a year to make one book. After all, the whole text was written or rewritten by hand, not to mention the manufacture of paper. I am most impressed by the former covers, which prove that the books were works of art and many of them masterpieces…Almost every book was decorated with gold or precious stones. Such books were very thick and heavy. Looking at them in modern museums is unbelievable that books were once as impressive as icons.

You will not see such books on our shelves. Now books have a simpler meaning, for some people it is a way to relax, for some it is to learn something new, and for others it is a kind of work. Even now, it takes a lot of money to make a book, despite the fact that there is no gold or precious stones on it, and publishers still have a hard time, so books are not cheap.

According to statistics in Ukraine, the population reads little, which is quite bad, especially in the time of war…People are not used to spending money on literature, but rather on food or clothing. Oleksandr Afonin, President of the UACC, said in one of his interviews that the situation with books in print and reading books was sad and sober in Ukraine. According to him, we do not have high-quality books for adults, there are no specialized books for teaching, there are few good editors, because the good books for their training and development are just absent… The same goes for readers – they number diminishes with every passing year. In European countries, one person reads approximately 100 books a year, and we do not have half of that. It’s really depressing.

However, it all comes down to the fact that the book can become a work of art again, rather than an ordinary thing, as it was before. Maybe then people will appreciate books more, and will want to read more again.

Despite all the technological innovations, we should not forget the book, because it engraves our past and preserves the present for the future generations…