15 books a year: What's holding back Malaysian readers?

The reading culture among Malaysians is in dire straits.

As of 2022, the average Malaysian spends less than three hours per week engaged in reading activities.

This figure pales in comparison to the 10-hour average in India, nine hours in Thailand, and eight hours in Indonesia.

A 2005 interim study by the National Library of Malaysia revealed that Malaysians, on average, only read two books per year.

Although this number increased to 15 books by 2014, it still falls significantly short of the 40-book average in developed nations.

Are we too preoccupied with daily tasks to spare time for reading?

While we find ample time to scroll through social media platforms like TikTok, excuses abound when it comes to picking up a book.

It's time to leverage the advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) to revitalize our dwindling reading habits.

Whether it's enjoying e-books on smartphones during commutes or listening to audiobooks during rush hour, there are numerous opportunities to incorporate reading into our daily lives.

Let's reclaim our weekends and public holidays for reading, whether it's embracing the tactile experience of physical books or delving into e-books.

The cost of books from overseas shouldn't deter us, as public libraries offer a treasure trove of quality reads without membership fees.

Additionally, budget-friendly bookstores like Big Bad Wolf and BookXcess are excellent alternatives.

It's high time we discard the excuses that hold us back from reading.

Let's break free from the confines of our comfort zones and embark on a journey of intellectual enrichment.

Comments

Laugh and the world laughs with you

Image created by ChatGPT Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone. - Anthony Burgess To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep. - Joan Klempner If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep. - Dale Carnegie Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good. - Soren Kierkegaard Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. - Mahatma Gandhi Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. - Jules Renard Idleness is not doing nothing. Idleness is being free to do anything. - Floyd Dell Idleness and lack of occupation tend - nay are dragged - towards evil. - Hippocrates, Decorum I don't think necessity is the mother of invention - invention, in my opinio...

We can't all be heroes

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. - Will Rogers Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. - Henry David Thoreau Think enthusiastically about everything; but especially about your job. If you do, you'll put a touch of glory in your life. If you love your job with enthusiasm, you'll shake it to pieces. You'll love it into greatness. - Norman Vincent Peale In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, September 22, 1936 I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. -Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791 We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in. - Thomas Paine, The Crisis, no. 4, September 11, 1777 Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty n...

I would rather be accused of...

I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than breaking promises. - John F. Kennedy The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale. - Arthur C. Clarke Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance. - William Shakespeare Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise. - Sigmund Freud I have always noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on truth. - Will Rogers Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well. - Samuel Butler An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. - Dwight D. Eisenhower I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. - Woodrow Wilson An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it. - Laurence J. Peter It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, the...

Quotes For You

Search This Blog