Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyberman tM
I'm not sure if this really is true.
I do think reading is an acquired taste, like fine wine or good beer (if there is such a thing, I wouldn't know - tastes all the same to me).
To us reading is instinctive - glance at a block of text, know the meaning.
But others need to work through it, line by line. It takes lots of time and work, thus it isn't enjoyable.
(Of course, in the case of the OP, he was also ignorant. That's a different matter. I would think that nowadays everyone at least heard of eBooks.)
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In order to acquire a taste for fine wine, I must first drink fine wine. Two Buck Chuck won't impress anyone. If I buy a bottle of $20 wine, someone else can produce a bottle of $50 wine. If I spring for the $50 wine, someone else can produce a bottle of $100 wine. If I drive an expensive sports car, someone else can buy a more expensive sports car. If I take an exotic vacation, someone else can trump that with an even more expensive vacation. Sooner or later, the price for wines, cars and vacations rises to the point where it is impossible to keep up.
Books are cheap - by weight, a used book might be cheaper than potting soil, and thus literally be dirt cheap. We teach reading in school. Most people have the ability to read. People can choose to read or not to read. And if reading is truly difficult for some, well some people are taller, some people are faster, some people are stronger than others, yet we don't expect them to apologize for it. Yet readers are often portrayed rather negatively.
I'm not going to pick on non-readers, I'll leave them alone. My wife and I are readers, we discuss books quite often. It's like our own private science fiction panel. I don't consider reading to just be a hobby, it's an important part of my life. I don't think I would be happy in a relationship with a non-reader. Others are free to do what will make them happy.