Is "reading" becoming a dying habit?

The present generation is smarter and more intelligent than mine in almost all spheres of life. They can handle "technology" far better than us; they get to choose from many times the career choices that we could; they have more money making opportunities and can exploit them much better than us; they are better citizens of the world because of their increased international travel; they are more confident - outspoken - communicative and independent than an average member of our generation was and of course earn more (even taking into account the reduced purchasing power of the rupee) than what we did.

You will agree that this is how it should be. If a succeeding generation is not "better" than the previous one, how can we claim that we are progressing - both economically and as a society.

There is however one serious blot on this otherwise clean canvas. The present generation does not like to read books. Maybe this is so because it is difficult to read books on a computer (or a television) screen to which most of them are "glued" to, throughout the day. Reading (virtually any kind) is "beneficial" to ones mental & therefore physical health and those not practicing it are denying themselves a great source of pleasure, entertainment and knowledge. Readers would have guessed that I am particularly referring to "extra curricular" reading. Movies - the staple food of this generation, unfortunately cannot jump start the process of "maturing" their viewers as books can. A book can be leisurely "chewed" while a movie has to be "gulped down".

It is not as if lesser number of books are being written - it is just that the number of readers has not increased proportionately. This is surprising since literacy levels have actually gone up. I have decided to do my bit to change things.

1. This is a link to My Library in Google Books. Here, I have listed my personal favourites. This should help those who keep asking me to recommend what they should read. The list is now just a click away. I have labeled the books in different categories, added my notes and given star ratings to all of them.
2. Did you know that we now have available (also in India) two state -of - the - art gadgets that allow you to download e-books (at a fraction of the cost of hard copies) that can be read on conveniently designed hand held electronic readers? Yes I am referring to Amazon Kindle and Sony touch. Both weigh under 300 grams, have 6 - inch screens, can store over 500 books, make available to you a library of over 2,00,000 e-books & have many features that will widen your eyes in amazement. Electronic geeks should no longer have excuses about not reading books. Just click the above links for all details.
3. Why not spread the habit by presenting books instead of bouquets or sundry gifts, on all possible occasions?