PLA 2016 Panel Discusses The Future of ebooks

During the 2016 Public Library Association conference in Denver, a panel updated attendees on the library ebook lending market and offered ideas to help patrons access more digital content.

Carolyn Anthony, director of Skokie (Ill.) Public Library and cochair of American Library Association’s Digital Content Working Group (DCWG), kicked things off. She shared insights gained during meetings with major publishers in December 2015. For instance, publishers generally continue to show greater willingness to provide better pricing and more flexible licensing terms. Penguin Random House has moved to a perpetual access model for all imprints, with a price cap at $65 per title rather than $85. Simon & Schuster, with its two-year business model, is offering the second year of access at half price. And HarperCollins recently announced it will make seven personal finance titles available for unlimited access April 15–May 15 to coincide with ALA’s Money Smart Week. Titles will be available through both OverDrive and Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360. According to Anthony, this development is exciting because it shows publishers are willing to respond to dialogue with libraries and experiment.

Other recent trends include declining ebook sales in 2015, which may represent a market correction because of increased consumer pricing. There is also a definite trend away from dedicated e-readers, as more people are choosing to read ebooks on tablets and smartphones. A November 2015 ALA/BISG study indicated that 58% of adults read fiction digitally at least some of the time and 53% read nonfiction digitally. Since approximately 75% of public library ebook collections are currently fiction, public libraries may find greater use if they invest more resources into building larger digital collections, especially in nonfiction. Anthony stressed that the public will not see libraries as a reliable source for digital materials until we build more robust collections.
Moving forward, the focus of DCWG will be to find ways to unbundle content and delivery. Currently, users face major barriers that result from multiple site interfaces and authentication requirements. The goal is to take content from multiple sources and make it all accessible through a simpler, unified delivery system. Preservation for e-content for all types of libraries is also a concern moving forward, particularly for academic and research libraries. Lastly, equity of access is another major objective as libraries support the White House ConnectED initiative, which seeks to ensure all schoolchildren will have a public library card and access to a vast array of ebook titles.

Fighting “patron platform fatigue”

Veronda Pitchford, director of membership development and resource sharing at Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS), pointed out that the current reading ecosystem is not ideal. According to Pitchford, libraries, distributors, publishers, authors, booksellers, and ebook platform vendors are in individual bubbles and need to work together to bring readers a better experience and greater access. If libraries can demonstrate our value in this ecosystem, we can affect pricing and increase awareness with potential users. Pitchford also spoke about the potential role consortia can play, citing the fact that RAILS, with approximately 400 member libraries, is one of the top five customers for Axis 360. By representing a large number of libraries, consortia like eRead Illinois have the opportunity to innovate on behalf of libraries. If libraries can collaborate and build better solutions, they can help battle “patron platform fatigue.”
Micah May, director of business development at New York Public Library (NYPL), highlighted two related projects in the works at his library. The first, SimplyE (formerly known as Library Simplified), seeks to build a free, open source, library-centric discovery base. The SimplyE platform is designed to integrate with the ILS and discovery layers, aggregating the collections from disparate e-content platforms (such as OverDrive, 3M/Bibliotheca, and Baker & Taylor) into one seamless interface for mobile ebook checkout.
May explained that the ideal process for accessing an ebook should consist of three simple steps:

1. Sign in to the catalog.
2. Search for title in the catalog.
3. Download the ebook to your device.

Achieving this would solve the problem of patron platform fatigue by presenting all the content together in one e-reading app. Where a library purchases its content is a separate issue, but May emphasized the importance of unbundling the content from the delivery mechanism. Offering a more convenient, customer-friendly experience would help draw new users as well as increase current use.
The second project May described is the Library e-Content Access Project (LEAP). According to May, this is the other half of the system that would serve as a library-owned ebook marketplace through which libraries can purchase content. He believes this type of system would allow libraries to spend more money on actual content rather than paying market providers. May claimed that NYPL would lead the process, could pilot a marketplace in 2016, and go live in 2017. Visit librarysimplified.org for more information on becoming a partner library.
The diverse efforts designed to assert libraries’ role in the rapidly changing ebook marketplace demonstrate the need for both collaboration and focus among interested libraries. After the meeting, Pitchford hosted a “Super Friends” meeting that featured representatives of the above groups along with other organizations (the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Digital Public Library of America, ReadersFirst, Califa, and others) working on new models for library e-content. This group hopes to provide some big-picture strategy help, allowing each to develop its own tools while creating a core vision and goals for libraries of all types.

Link: https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/e-content/pla2016-making-progress-digital-content/

Newspapers Clipping April 2016

Agriculture

Dr Kamal Monnoo, Agriculture: Learning from India, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.06
Hassan Javid, Fighting peasants while fuelling bigots, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Towards agri-led growth, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06


Biography/interviews
Sharif Al Mujhaid, A role model, Dawn, 27  April 2016, P.09
Jalees Hazir, President Putin’s media trial, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.06
M A Niazi, The Bard of Avon, The Nation, 29 April 2016, P.06


Culture/Society/Women/Human Rights
Asma Humayun, Violence at home, Dawn, 04  April 2016, P.09
Asfiya Aziz, Media Ethics, Dawn, 29  April 2016, P.09
Sameen Sadaf, Intelligent discourse and consensus, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Sana Chaudhry, For your daughters, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, Human rights challenges, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.07
Asfandyar Waraich, The end of collectivism?, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.07
Dr Zamurrad Awan, Appraisal of Women Protection Bill, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.06
Anjum Altaf, A toothless tiger?, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Imaan Mazari Hazir, A constitutional violation, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Dr A Q Khan, Women’s rights in Islam, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Syed Muhammad Abubakar, Women and climate change, The News, 30  April 2016, P.06


Economics
Farhan Bokhari , Dodging the taxman, Dawn, 18  April 2016, P.09
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Quest for export-led growth, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.07
Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s multilayed perspectives Part 4, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.06
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, CPEC an epoch making initiative, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.07
Zubair Khaliq, The possible irrelevance of oil, The Nation, 10  April 2016, P.07
Tashfeen Jamal, CPEC: A game changer, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.07
Dr Song Jong-hwan, Behind the Korean economic miracle, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Umar, The importance of CPEC, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.07
Sehar Kamran, SCO: A game changer, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.06
Dr Kamal Monnoo, CPEC – latest commentary, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.07
S Akbar Zaidi, The economy: better, but what’s your next trick?, The News, 13 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, Living with crooks, The News, 15 April 2016, P.06


Education/Language & Literature
Atle Hetland, Lessons in education, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.07
Dr Shahid Siddiqui, Education in pre-British Punjab, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06


Energy
Nadeem  Hussain, Going solar, Dawn, 14  April 2016, P.09


Environmental Issues and Health Issues
Rukhsana   Shah, Poor diagnosis, Dawn, 01  April 2016, P.09
Arif  Azad, Census & health, Dawn, 05  April 2016, P.09
Hajrah  Mumtaz , Sliding scale, Dawn, 11  April 2016, P.09
Asad  Ali, Measles in Sindh, Dawn, 15  April 2016, P.09
Chauburji, Myths and mindsets, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.06
Azal Zahir, Dendrology, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.07
Kifayat Ullah, Half-realised goals, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.07
Azal Zahir , The legal implications of COP 21, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.07
Dr Ahmad Saeed Bhatti, Earth Day 2016, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.06
Dr Arshad Rehan, Implementing healthcare reform, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06
Naeem Sadiq, Our travel footprint, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Young again, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Grant A Mincy, Earth Day, The News, 06 April 2016, P.07
Adnan Adil, Unsafe water, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
Pete Dolack, Coastal flooding, The News, 11 April 2016, P.07
Dr A Q Khan, Medical humanitarianism, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, The road to zero, The News, 26 April 2016, P.06
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, The road to zero, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06
Silvio Carrillo & Jeff Conant, Earth’s defenders, The News, 27 April 2016, P.07


International Relations
M A Niazi, A matter of timing, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, RAW’s raw hand, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, Upsetting the balance, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.06
Dr.S.Farooq Hasnat, Pakistan - Iran strategic obligation, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.07
K. Iqbal, India’s denial and despair, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.07
Jalees Hazir, Sending the US back home, The Nation, 28 April 2016, P.06
Samson Simon Sharaf, International layer of instability, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.06
Syed Talat Hussain, Strategic blunders, The News, 04 April 2016, P.07
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Pak-Iran relations, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Hussain H Zaidi, Ties with Tehran, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, War through other means, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Saleem Safi, Asking for a neutral Iran, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Umer, The hot reality of cold start, The News, 19 April 2016, P.06


Kashmir
Sikander Ahmed Shah, Another solution?, Dawn, 07  April 2016, P.09
Sameer Bhat, Kashmir discontent, Dawn, 24  April 2016, P.09
Afzal Hussain, Half-widows of occupied Kashmir, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.06
Awais Bin Wasi, Kashmir: 10 options for Pakistan, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.07
Engr Mushtaq Ahmed, Macro Hydropower of Kashmir, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.06
M Saeed Khalid, Mehbooba and the BJP, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Awais Bin Wasi, Options on Kashmir, The News, 12 April 2016, P.06
Aijaz Zaka Syed, The killing fields of Kashmir, The News, 15 April 2016, P.07


Law
Maria Taimur, Implementing JJSO, Dawn, 17  April 2016, P.09
Hassan Javid, Revisiting the Cybercrime Bill, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.06


Miscellaneous
Mohammad Ali Baba Khel, Policing Sindh, Dawn, 10  April 2016, P.09
Parvez  Rahim, Accidents at work, Dawn, 13 April 2016, P.09
Aasim  Sajjad  Akhtar, Steady retreat, Dawn, 22  April 2016, P.09
Irfan Husain, Pity the police, Dawn, 23  April 2016, P.09
Tariq Mushtaq /, Kalabagh Dam: The facts, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.06
Atle Hetland, Accepting difference, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.07
Agha Baqir, From the Common to the Commoner, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.07
Imaan Mazari Hazir, Misogyny and the law, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06


Politics/International Politics
Idress  Khwaja, Politics of census, Dawn, 03 April 2016, P.09
A.G.Noorani, Identity crisis, Dawn, 08  April 2016, P.09
Niaz  Murtaza, Elusive liberalism, Dawn, 12  April 2016, P.09
Irfan  Husain , The moral maze, Dawn, 16  April 2016, P.09
Huma Yusuf, Accountability moves, Dawn, 25  April 2016, P.09
Kaleem Dean, Most Americans support torture, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.07
Munir Ahmed Khan, The need for a new Bhutto, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.07
Dr Farooq Hassan, Trump still ahead, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, Politics of Patronage, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, Beyond Kulbhushan Yadav, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.07
Javid Husain, System and the man, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.07
Dr Farid A Malik, Defenders of the constitution?, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.06
Abdul Majeed Abid, The Anti-National Manifesto, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, The Chief Minister of Punjab, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.06
Ahsan Kureshi, The good paparazzi, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.07
Marvi Sirmed, Keyword: Across-the-board, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, Carriage without coachman, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.06
Mohsin Raza Malik, Mainstreaming the Mohajirs, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.07
Nazia Jabeen, Imran’s tragic flaw, The Nation, 29 April 2016, P.06
Imaan Mazari Hazir, A dismal state of affairs, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Legends of the mandate, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Adnan Randhawa, Progressive Pakistan, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Talat Farooq, Reality check, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Consistently living up to low expectations, The News, 12 April 2016, P.07
Hussain H Zaidi, No surprises, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Sharif evasions inviting intervention, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Azam Khalil, We need Nawabzada Nasrullah, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06
Zaigham Khan, Twenty years of the PTI: the road to glory, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, Institutional stability, The News, 28 April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, Keeping the transition on track, The News, 28 April 2016, P.06
Iftekhar A Khan, The show goes on, The News, 30  April 2016, P.07


Religion
Owen Bennet T Jones, Deoband variations, Dawn, 21  April 2016, P.09
Mina Malik-Hussain, Under siege, again, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.06
Harris Bin Munawar, Diary of a former Islamic extremist, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, Turmoil in the world of Islam, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, Government under self-siege, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, ‘Soft’ Islam flexes its muscles…sort of, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Aijaz Zaka Syed, Among the believers, The News, 01 April 2016, P.07
Danish Khan, Making a new social contract, The News, 02 April 2016, P.07


Science & Information Technology
Muhammad Umar, Fareed Zakaria’s nuclear allegations, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.06
Nasir Hafeez, Sharing of sensitive nuclear information, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.07
Abdul Majeed Abid, Science in the age of nationalism, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.06
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, We’re all cyber-terrorists, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.07
Ali Sarwar Naqvi, India’s nuclear arsenal, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, True deterrence, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Reaping the IT fruits, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, Ending nuclear inequality, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06

Topic of the Month - Panama Leaks Corruption Scandal
Niaz Murtaza, Pondering Panama, Dawn, 26  April 2016, P.09
Jalees Hazir, Kosher corruption and media spins, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.06
S Tariq, Thoughts on ‘Panama Leaks’, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.06
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Burning witches with relish, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.07
Ahsan Kureshi, The P-leaks and the Sharifs, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.06
Hassan Javid, Offshore hypocrisy, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.06
Saad Rasool, (Non)-Judicial Commission, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.07
Najma Minhas, Pakistani Panama Papers, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.07
Mohsin Raza Malik, Panama probe, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.07
S Tariq, For the sake of future generations, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.06
Atle Hetland, Beyond the Panama Papers, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, The leaks that swept Pakistan too, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.06
Maiza Hameed, Nothing lethal about the leaks, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.06
Afrasiab Khattak, Agony of the Federation, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.07
Saad Rasool, What moral responsibility?, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, Leaking in London, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.06
Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s multilayered perspectives, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.07
Saad Rasool, Boiling Pot of Issues, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.07
Mian Fazal Ahmad, Panama leaks and international audits, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.07
Mina Malik-Hussain, On Trojan Horses, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.06
Iftikhar Ahmad, Panama Leaks and politics, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.07
Agha Baqir, Wealth mines, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.07
Joe Brewer, Systemic corruption, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Offshore, onshore, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
C J Polychroniou, Why care about the leak?, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Consistently living up to low expectations, The News, 07 April 2016, P.07
Ayaz Amir, Panama Leaks…Pakistan’s opportunity, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Staff Reporter , Leaky politics, The News, 08 April 2016, P.07
Shahid Mehmood, What’s wrong with offshore companies?, The News, 09 April 2016, P.07
Zaigham Khan, The train to Panama, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Samson Agonistes…or Nooras in agony, The News, 12 April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, Panama Papers: the toll on Pakistan    , The News, 13 April 2016, P.06
Dr Akmal Hussain, The human cost of corruption, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, The PM can’t escape scrutiny, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Innocent unless proven guilty, The News, 15 April 2016, P.06
Shamshad Ahmad, Our ‘offshore’ rulers, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Who is PM Sharif’s worst enemy?, The News, 20  April 2016, P.07
Nasim Zehra, A counter-productive response, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, The post-Panama fallout, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Dr M Zeb Khan, Trivialising the leaks, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Idrees Khawaja, Light rays from the leaks, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Our curious paradox, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Truth and the mandate: uneasy companions, The News, 26 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Harvesting the civ-mil imbalance, The News, 26 April 2016, P.07
Shireen M Mazari, An incomprehensible silence, The News, 28 April 2016, P.07
Raoof Hasan, The non-commission, The News, 30  April 2016, P.06


War/Terrorism
 Irfan Husain, Spineless in Lahore, Dawn, 02  April 2016, P.09
Moeed Yusuf, The lowest point, Dawn, 19  April 2016, P.09
Ahsan Kureshi, They overwhelmed us, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.06
Zain Haider, At the Heart of this Carnage, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, The deepening divide, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Hassan Javid, The same old story, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.06
Saad Rasool, Military Operation in Punjab, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.07
Iftikhar Ahmad, Romanticism and humanism, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.07
Mohsin Raza Malik, Pre-empting nuclear terrorism, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.07
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Raw illusions, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.07
Sehar Kamran, The curious case of the Indian spy, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.07
Marvi Sirmed , Spy on the wall, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.06
Amal Shakeb, When your home ground is attacked, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, Spring offensive & peace process, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.07
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Terrorism on the mane, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.07Agriculture

Dr Kamal Monnoo, Agriculture: Learning from India, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.06
Hassan Javid, Fighting peasants while fuelling bigots, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Towards agri-led growth, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06


Biography/interviews
Sharif Al Mujhaid, A role model, Dawn, 27  April 2016, P.09
Jalees Hazir, President Putin’s media trial, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.06
M A Niazi, The Bard of Avon, The Nation, 29 April 2016, P.06


Culture/Society/Women/Human Rights
Asma Humayun, Violence at home, Dawn, 04  April 2016, P.09
Asfiya Aziz, Media Ethics, Dawn, 29  April 2016, P.09
Sameen Sadaf, Intelligent discourse and consensus, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Sana Chaudhry, For your daughters, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, Human rights challenges, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.07
Asfandyar Waraich, The end of collectivism?, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.07
Dr Zamurrad Awan, Appraisal of Women Protection Bill, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.06
Anjum Altaf, A toothless tiger?, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Imaan Mazari Hazir, A constitutional violation, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Dr A Q Khan, Women’s rights in Islam, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Syed Muhammad Abubakar, Women and climate change, The News, 30  April 2016, P.06


Economics
Farhan Bokhari , Dodging the taxman, Dawn, 18  April 2016, P.09
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Quest for export-led growth, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.07
Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s multilayed perspectives Part 4, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.06
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, CPEC an epoch making initiative, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.07
Zubair Khaliq, The possible irrelevance of oil, The Nation, 10  April 2016, P.07
Tashfeen Jamal, CPEC: A game changer, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.07
Dr Song Jong-hwan, Behind the Korean economic miracle, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Umar, The importance of CPEC, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.07
Sehar Kamran, SCO: A game changer, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.06
Dr Kamal Monnoo, CPEC – latest commentary, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.07
S Akbar Zaidi, The economy: better, but what’s your next trick?, The News, 13 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, Living with crooks, The News, 15 April 2016, P.06


Education/Language & Literature
Atle Hetland, Lessons in education, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.07
Dr Shahid Siddiqui, Education in pre-British Punjab, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06


Energy
Nadeem  Hussain, Going solar, Dawn, 14  April 2016, P.09


Environmental Issues and Health Issues
Rukhsana   Shah, Poor diagnosis, Dawn, 01  April 2016, P.09
Arif  Azad, Census & health, Dawn, 05  April 2016, P.09
Hajrah  Mumtaz , Sliding scale, Dawn, 11  April 2016, P.09
Asad  Ali, Measles in Sindh, Dawn, 15  April 2016, P.09
Chauburji, Myths and mindsets, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.06
Azal Zahir, Dendrology, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.07
Kifayat Ullah, Half-realised goals, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.07
Azal Zahir , The legal implications of COP 21, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.07
Dr Ahmad Saeed Bhatti, Earth Day 2016, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.06
Dr Arshad Rehan, Implementing healthcare reform, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06
Naeem Sadiq, Our travel footprint, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Young again, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Grant A Mincy, Earth Day, The News, 06 April 2016, P.07
Adnan Adil, Unsafe water, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
Pete Dolack, Coastal flooding, The News, 11 April 2016, P.07
Dr A Q Khan, Medical humanitarianism, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, The road to zero, The News, 26 April 2016, P.06
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, The road to zero, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06
Silvio Carrillo & Jeff Conant, Earth’s defenders, The News, 27 April 2016, P.07


International Relations
M A Niazi, A matter of timing, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, RAW’s raw hand, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, Upsetting the balance, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.06
Dr.S.Farooq Hasnat, Pakistan - Iran strategic obligation, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.07
K. Iqbal, India’s denial and despair, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.07
Jalees Hazir, Sending the US back home, The Nation, 28 April 2016, P.06
Samson Simon Sharaf, International layer of instability, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.06
Syed Talat Hussain, Strategic blunders, The News, 04 April 2016, P.07
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Pak-Iran relations, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Hussain H Zaidi, Ties with Tehran, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, War through other means, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Saleem Safi, Asking for a neutral Iran, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Umer, The hot reality of cold start, The News, 19 April 2016, P.06


Kashmir
Sikander Ahmed Shah, Another solution?, Dawn, 07  April 2016, P.09
Sameer Bhat, Kashmir discontent, Dawn, 24  April 2016, P.09
Afzal Hussain, Half-widows of occupied Kashmir, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.06
Awais Bin Wasi, Kashmir: 10 options for Pakistan, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.07
Engr Mushtaq Ahmed, Macro Hydropower of Kashmir, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.06
M Saeed Khalid, Mehbooba and the BJP, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Awais Bin Wasi, Options on Kashmir, The News, 12 April 2016, P.06
Aijaz Zaka Syed, The killing fields of Kashmir, The News, 15 April 2016, P.07


Law
Maria Taimur, Implementing JJSO, Dawn, 17  April 2016, P.09
Hassan Javid, Revisiting the Cybercrime Bill, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.06


Miscellaneous
Mohammad Ali Baba Khel, Policing Sindh, Dawn, 10  April 2016, P.09
Parvez  Rahim, Accidents at work, Dawn, 13 April 2016, P.09
Aasim  Sajjad  Akhtar, Steady retreat, Dawn, 22  April 2016, P.09
Irfan Husain, Pity the police, Dawn, 23  April 2016, P.09
Tariq Mushtaq /, Kalabagh Dam: The facts, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.06
Atle Hetland, Accepting difference, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.07
Agha Baqir, From the Common to the Commoner, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.07
Imaan Mazari Hazir, Misogyny and the law, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06


Politics/International Politics
Idress  Khwaja, Politics of census, Dawn, 03 April 2016, P.09
A.G.Noorani, Identity crisis, Dawn, 08  April 2016, P.09
Niaz  Murtaza, Elusive liberalism, Dawn, 12  April 2016, P.09
Irfan  Husain , The moral maze, Dawn, 16  April 2016, P.09
Huma Yusuf, Accountability moves, Dawn, 25  April 2016, P.09
Kaleem Dean, Most Americans support torture, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.07
Munir Ahmed Khan, The need for a new Bhutto, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.07
Dr Farooq Hassan, Trump still ahead, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, Politics of Patronage, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, Beyond Kulbhushan Yadav, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.07
Javid Husain, System and the man, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.07
Dr Farid A Malik, Defenders of the constitution?, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.06
Abdul Majeed Abid, The Anti-National Manifesto, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, The Chief Minister of Punjab, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.06
Ahsan Kureshi, The good paparazzi, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.07
Marvi Sirmed, Keyword: Across-the-board, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, Carriage without coachman, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.06
Mohsin Raza Malik, Mainstreaming the Mohajirs, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.07
Nazia Jabeen, Imran’s tragic flaw, The Nation, 29 April 2016, P.06
Imaan Mazari Hazir, A dismal state of affairs, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Legends of the mandate, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Adnan Randhawa, Progressive Pakistan, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Talat Farooq, Reality check, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Consistently living up to low expectations, The News, 12 April 2016, P.07
Hussain H Zaidi, No surprises, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Sharif evasions inviting intervention, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Azam Khalil, We need Nawabzada Nasrullah, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06
Zaigham Khan, Twenty years of the PTI: the road to glory, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, Institutional stability, The News, 28 April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, Keeping the transition on track, The News, 28 April 2016, P.06
Iftekhar A Khan, The show goes on, The News, 30  April 2016, P.07


Religion
Owen Bennet T Jones, Deoband variations, Dawn, 21  April 2016, P.09
Mina Malik-Hussain, Under siege, again, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.06
Harris Bin Munawar, Diary of a former Islamic extremist, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, Turmoil in the world of Islam, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, Government under self-siege, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, ‘Soft’ Islam flexes its muscles…sort of, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Aijaz Zaka Syed, Among the believers, The News, 01 April 2016, P.07
Danish Khan, Making a new social contract, The News, 02 April 2016, P.07


Science & Information Technology
Muhammad Umar, Fareed Zakaria’s nuclear allegations, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.06
Nasir Hafeez, Sharing of sensitive nuclear information, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.07
Abdul Majeed Abid, Science in the age of nationalism, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.06
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, We’re all cyber-terrorists, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.07
Ali Sarwar Naqvi, India’s nuclear arsenal, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, True deterrence, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Reaping the IT fruits, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, Ending nuclear inequality, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06

Topic of the Month - Panama Leaks Corruption Scandal
Niaz Murtaza, Pondering Panama, Dawn, 26  April 2016, P.09
Jalees Hazir, Kosher corruption and media spins, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.06
S Tariq, Thoughts on ‘Panama Leaks’, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.06
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Burning witches with relish, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.07
Ahsan Kureshi, The P-leaks and the Sharifs, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.06
Hassan Javid, Offshore hypocrisy, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.06
Saad Rasool, (Non)-Judicial Commission, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.07
Najma Minhas, Pakistani Panama Papers, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.07
Mohsin Raza Malik, Panama probe, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.07
S Tariq, For the sake of future generations, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.06
Atle Hetland, Beyond the Panama Papers, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, The leaks that swept Pakistan too, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.06
Maiza Hameed, Nothing lethal about the leaks, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.06
Afrasiab Khattak, Agony of the Federation, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.07
Saad Rasool, What moral responsibility?, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, Leaking in London, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.06
Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s multilayered perspectives, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.07
Saad Rasool, Boiling Pot of Issues, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.07
Mian Fazal Ahmad, Panama leaks and international audits, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.07
Mina Malik-Hussain, On Trojan Horses, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.06
Iftikhar Ahmad, Panama Leaks and politics, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.07
Agha Baqir, Wealth mines, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.07
Joe Brewer, Systemic corruption, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Offshore, onshore, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
C J Polychroniou, Why care about the leak?, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Consistently living up to low expectations, The News, 07 April 2016, P.07
Ayaz Amir, Panama Leaks…Pakistan’s opportunity, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Staff Reporter , Leaky politics, The News, 08 April 2016, P.07
Shahid Mehmood, What’s wrong with offshore companies?, The News, 09 April 2016, P.07
Zaigham Khan, The train to Panama, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Samson Agonistes…or Nooras in agony, The News, 12 April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, Panama Papers: the toll on Pakistan    , The News, 13 April 2016, P.06
Dr Akmal Hussain, The human cost of corruption, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, The PM can’t escape scrutiny, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Innocent unless proven guilty, The News, 15 April 2016, P.06
Shamshad Ahmad, Our ‘offshore’ rulers, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Who is PM Sharif’s worst enemy?, The News, 20  April 2016, P.07
Nasim Zehra, A counter-productive response, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, The post-Panama fallout, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Dr M Zeb Khan, Trivialising the leaks, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Idrees Khawaja, Light rays from the leaks, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Our curious paradox, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Truth and the mandate: uneasy companions, The News, 26 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Harvesting the civ-mil imbalance, The News, 26 April 2016, P.07
Shireen M Mazari, An incomprehensible silence, The News, 28 April 2016, P.07
Raoof Hasan, The non-commission, The News, 30  April 2016, P.06


War/Terrorism
 Irfan Husain, Spineless in Lahore, Dawn, 02  April 2016, P.09
Moeed Yusuf, The lowest point, Dawn, 19  April 2016, P.09
Ahsan Kureshi, They overwhelmed us, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.06
Zain Haider, At the Heart of this Carnage, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, The deepening divide, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Hassan Javid, The same old story, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.06
Saad Rasool, Military Operation in Punjab, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.07
Iftikhar Ahmad, Romanticism and humanism, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.07
Mohsin Raza Malik, Pre-empting nuclear terrorism, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.07
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Raw illusions, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.07
Sehar Kamran, The curious case of the Indian spy, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.07
Marvi Sirmed , Spy on the wall, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.06
Amal Shakeb, When your home ground is attacked, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, Spring offensive & peace process, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.07
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Terrorism on the mane, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.07
Athar Ali Mazari, The bitter truth about Chotu’s gang, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.07
S Tariq, Now or Never, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.06
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Facilitating terrorism in Kabul, The Nation, 28 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, Project Taliban, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.07
Dr Adil Sultan, The NSS process, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
M Saeed Khalid, The amateur republic and its deadly enemies, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Conn Hallinan, Terrorism: then and now, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Sheikh Waqqas Akram, Owning Isis, The News, 09 April 2016, P.0
                                                       Newspapers Clipping April 2016 

Olivier Guitta, How to cooperate against terrorism, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Zaigham Khan, The challenge of Chotus and Chotulands, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Naeem Sadiq, The tragedy at Rajanpur, The News, 19 April 2016, P.06
Abdul Basit, The fighting season, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, From war on terror to war against corruption?, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, How to handle the Taliban, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06
Adnan Adil, Cutting ‘Chotus’down to size, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06

Athar Ali Mazari, The bitter truth about Chotu’s gang, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.07
S Tariq, Now or Never, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.06
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Facilitating terrorism in Kabul, The Nation, 28 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, Project Taliban, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.07
Dr Adil Sultan, The NSS process, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
M Saeed Khalid, The amateur republic and its deadly enemies, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Conn Hallinan, Terrorism: then and now, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Sheikh Waqqas Akram, Owning Isis, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Olivier Guitta, How to cooperate against terrorism, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Zaigham Khan, The challenge of Chotus and Chotulands, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Naeem Sadiq, The tragedy at Rajanpur, The News, 19 April 2016, P.06
Abdul Basit, The fighting season, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, From war on terror to war against corruption?, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, How to handle the Taliban, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06
Adnan Adil, Cutting ‘Chotus’down to size, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06

Six Reasons Why You Should Read Books

"Nobody reads anymore", is the long-running lament of the booklover (and publisher).Doom and gloom about the state of world literacy has been standard for a long time - given fresh impetus by each new technology, from the printing press to that destroyer of youthful attention spans, the internet. As though, once the baby boomers die out, nobody will ever read War and Peace again.
American jounalistChris Hedges wrote recently, in his cheery book Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, of the one-third of Americans who are apparently illiterate or barely literate. Even among those who can read, "A third of high-school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives, and neither do 42 percent of college graduates," he writes. "In 2007, 80 percent of the families in the United States did not buy or read a book."
Closer to home, a 2008 survey found that almost half of Australians couldn't read well enough to decipher from a medicine packet how many tablets they needed to take.
On the other hand, research carried out in 2014 reported that 58% of Australians claimed to have read a fiction or non-fiction book in the previous three months. Either something pretty dramatic happened in those six years; people are fibbing about their reading habits; or we perhaps shouldn't be too quick to believe everything we, well, read.
In honour of World Book Day, here's a (non-exhaustive) list of six reasons - ranked from possibly the least to the most important - why you should seriously consider being in that supposed 58%. Why your life will probably be better if you make an effort to make a habit of reading.

1.      It's fun

In spite of Kafka, though, in spite of every earnest "100 books you should read before you die" list, reading is, in fact, one of the great pleasures of human life. This is easy to forget. Alan Jacobs, in his book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, writes:

"It seems to me that it is not so hard to absorb, and early in life, the idea that reading is so good for you, so loaded with vitamin-rich, high-fiber information and understanding, that it can't possibly be pleasurable - that to read for the joy of it is fundamentally inappropriate ... So this is what I say: for heaven's sake, don't turn reading into the intellectual equivalent of eating organic greens, or some fearfully disciplined appointment with an elliptical trainer of the mind in which you count words or pages the way some people fix their attention on the 'calories burned' readout - some assiduous and taxing exercise that allows you to look back on your conquest of Middlemarch with grim satisfaction. How depressing. This kind of thing is not reading at all, but what C.S. Lewis once called 'social and ethical hygiene'."

Reading is not about guilt or duty. This means that you should know when to quit. The "100-page rule" is a useful one: it states that you should give a book 100 pages minus your age (meaning, the older you get, the more reading experience you have - and the less time remaining to you to read - the fewer pages you should read before deciding whether or not this particular tome merits the effort).
Of course, it's also worth persevering with some books, developing new tastes. Many pleasures are learned, or earned; many foods are an acquired taste, many film genres or sports are merely bewildering to watch until you know what's going on. It doesn't mean they can't become one of the enduring pleasures of your life. Reading is worth working hard at.
So this World Book Day, why not try to find something to read that you love - something you can't put down? Perhaps reading is not for everybody. But it's probably capable of enhancing the lives of a great many people who've forgotten to give it a proper go.

2.      Formation

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."

- Oscar Wilde

This isn't something we talk about much anymore; talk of the formation of character went out of public favour with talk of the soul. Nonetheless, it's as true as it ever was that something is going to form you as a person: how you think, what you value and desire, what you aspire to or enjoy, what you think is good and bad. We do not spontaneously create these things for ourselves, as much as we'd like to flatter ourselves that it's so.
If it's not actively selected reading material (among other things) that influences us, it's going to be passively received advertising, the choices and examples of friends, the mores (God forbid) of social media. Why are we so moralistic about our physical diet, and so laissez-faire about our intellectual and emotional diet?
It's been said that "A whole moral universe is implicit in the plot of Peter Rabbit." Reading well means examining our own worldview, figuring out what it's made of, and being able to initiate and accept change in it. Kafka, writing to a schoolfriend in 1904, said this about what reading ought to do for us:

"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. That is my belief."

Books can do deep and mysterious works of revolution in our lives.

3.      You should read because you can

If you've been taught to read and write, you are overwhelmingly in the minority of people who've ever walked the earth. In most places and at most times, reading has been the preserve of an empowered elite. One of the beautiful things that we owe to the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, and the earlier movement that fed into it, is the idea that everybody should have access to the tools of learning themselves.
The Lollards or Wycliffites, the Tyndales and Luthers and Calvins who more or less forged the modern vernaculars of Europe, believed fervently that everyone should have the Bible in their own language; that the ploughboy was as worthy of all that was involved in faith and "high" culture as the priest or university professor. Marilynne Robinson reflects that:

"The movement that preceded the Reformation and continued through it was one of respect for the poor and oppressed - respect much more than compassion, since the impulse behind it was the desire to share the best treasure of their faith and learning with the masses of unregarded poor whom they knew to be ready, and very worthy, to receive it."

As educated people today, we tend to identify with those subsets of the historical population who could also read, who were relatively affluent and wielded some level and form of political power. This is vanity. Most of us would have been illiterate peasants had we lived in 1500.
If we care for our democracy, if we accept our role as citizens and not mere economic units or private members of individual families, then ought we not to exercise the powers vested in us - ought we not to read, expand our civic imaginations, envisage smarter and more workable versions of the common good? From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.

4.      Books overcome some of the limitations of our lives

"The person who doesn't read lives only one life. The reader lives 5,000. Reading is immortality backwards."

- Umberto Eco

Reading books - especially fiction - lifts us out of the time and place we happen to have been born into. Many writers have conceptualised their craft as a means of exercising the moral muscle of sympathy, of compassion. George Eliot described art as "a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow-men beyond the bounds of our personal lot."
This is not to say that readers of literature are necessarily better people. The Nazis were pretty highbrow, on the whole. Yet if we will allow it to, story has the capacity to slip under our defences and change our minds about things where mere logic finds us obdurate, impenetrable. Books like Uncle Tom's Cabin or To Kill a Mockingbird have probably done at least as much to discredit and dismantle racism as any legislative victory.
Books invite us to embark on a form of time-travel we desperately need. T.S. Eliot wrote about his own time (and, presciently, ours too):

"there never was a time, I believe, when the reading public was so large, or so helplessly exposed to the influences of its own time. There never was a time, I believe, when those who read at all, read so many more books by living authors than books by dead authors; there never was a time so completely parochial, so shut off from the past ... Individualistic democracy has come to high tide: and it is more difficult today to be an individual than it ever was before."

Our chronological snobbery makes us small-town, close-minded, inward-looking. It exacerbates instead of easing the natural constraints of our lives. Communion with writers of the past offers us a position from which to bring into focus the foibles, the blind spots, and also the achievements of our age. We can never completely get out of our own skin, but as C.S. Lewis said of reading, "If I can't get out of the dungeon I shall at least look out through the bars. It is better than sinking back on the straw in the darkest corner."

5.      You'll be more interesting

This one may be a bit controversial: the reader is, all things being equal, a better conversationalist than the non-reader. The avid reader finds themselves - whether encountering for the first time a professional billiards player, a Tudor historian, or a Finnish traveller - kick-starting intricate and mutually agreeable conversations that frequently begin, "Oh! I recently read something about ..." and tap into their interlocutor's specific interests, knowledge, or experiences without further ado.
Reading is a way of forging bonds with other people, or consolidating ones that already exist; a proxy for figuring out what people are like and how life looks to them; a means of cultivating a richer inner life.
This is partly because ...

6.      Reading is in

Just as nerd culture is experiencing a sustained moment - see, for instance, the Marvel/DC movie release schedule, or shows like The Big Bang Theory - reading has significantly upped its cachet over the last few decades.
Iconic photographs of Marilyn Monroe or James Dean poring over serious-looking tomes lent the bookworm some social validation. Disney's Belle from Beauty and the Beast, the redoubtable Hermione Granger, or sweet, fast-talking Rory Gilmore took the bookish heroine mainstream.
Book clubs (and here, perhaps, Oprah ought to take some credit) are a thing that people - adult people in the actual world - do, more and more, because they want to read, and they want to talk about what they read with other people. (Wine may also be involved.)
And in case you need more convincing, there's always: Hot Dudes Reading, whose 836,000 Instagram followers share among themselves snaps of the species in the wilds of the NYC subway


Link: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2016/04/22/4448513.htm