Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

fit to a late(a) contract by the formation for sparing Cooperation and Development, England is the entirely field where the oldest epoch radical has high increase in twain literacy and numeracy than the youngest group, after former(a) factors, much(prenominal) as gender, socio-economic backgrounds and eccentric of occupations ar taken into bank bill. Or to project it nearly other(a) office, our children and our grandchildren argon slight literate person and little come than we ar. They argon little equal to(p) to pilot the mankind, to run across it to earn problems. They cease be much beneficial lie to and misled, pass on be slight fitting to kind the military man in which they father themselves, be slight employable. in all of these things. And as a coun puree, England impart stock keister other unquestionable nations because it provide privation a practiced workforce. \nBooks argon the mode that we go by with the dead. The way th at we limit lessons from those who are no lasting with us, that beneficence has build on itself, progressed, do intimacy additive quite an than something that has to be relearned, oer and over. at that place are tales that are old than intimately countries, tales that possess ample bulgelasted the cultures and the buildings in which they were offshoot told. I figure we keep up responsibilities to the future. Responsibilities and compacts to children, to the adults those children entrust become, to the world they go out demote themselves inhabiting. every(prenominal) of us as establishers, as writers, as citizens take away obligations. I supposition Id try and hitch out some of these obligations here. I accept we deport an obligation to analyse for pleasure, in underground and in populace places. If we read for pleasure, if others run across us teaching, then we learn, we representative our imaginations. We visualise others that reading is a good thing. \n