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Has Electronic Life wiped out Books?


I recently read an article about Jacqueline Wilson (link) and amongst the views attributed to her was that she believed that “Electronic life has wiped out books.” This seems like a strong statement but what is the truth behind it? According to the Washington Post (link) there has been over a 16% decline in adults who read at least one literary work per year from 1982 to 2015 from just under 57% to 43.1%. I find that quite shocking as the percentage in 1982 already seems low. 
Apparently there are more things to amuse us nowadays. With our smartphones we can surf the web or read our emails, play games or watch more television programs. I am a fan of television series and do watch a number of films and programs a week but one important thing I find with the cinematic art form is that while it may exercise your brain with issues brought to the fore, it doesn’t drive your imagination.

Surely imagination is the well spring for creativity. Without imagination our whole society would struggle to function. How would we develop, how would we grow without that capacity to think what would be and then working out how to get there? And surely books are the playground for that creativity.


I’m not saying that books are the only playground for any of the creative arts will do that. Sculpture, basket weaving, drama, embroidery, painting, etc.. are all pastimes that will drive the imagination. But when we simply hover over what I would call static detail, that which is fixed and cannot be changed, then our imagination will die.

I don’t think Jacqueline Wilson is totally right, well, not yet. But she certainly has hit the nail on the head with how things are heading.

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Grass cutting – the easy way!

You know when you have held off buying something because of the cost. Then when you do, you realise it’s so much more efficient than the old thing. Ultimately you realise you’ve been a bit of muppet not splashing the cash. Well, I learnt a valuable lesson in grass cutting this week.

How grass cutting suddenly got easier

This week I’ve been cutting the grass (otherwise known as the jungle!) with my new mower and it has sliced the time it’s been taking to hackdown the weeds. I had perservered for a couple of years with our old one. But this week I completed the front lawn without injury, an overexcuberance of swearing, and without kicking the living daylights out of the mower.
Writing is similar. Getting a decent ebook creator has saved time and money and has freed me up to produce more writing quicker. Which is all the better for everyone. It’s also allowed me time to get stuck into a first draft I have waiting, the first book in a new series, “Dark Wen”. It’s about a detective who finds his city under a dark paranormal attack and has to leap into action against creatures and spirits he has never imagined. All being well, it’ll be available in August!
Anyway, strimmer time now. No point in perfect lawns with imperfect edges…. or maybe a coffee instead (edges can’t be that important).
If you like paranormal adventures, then you will like Austerley and Kirkgordon. Their battle against evil forces begins with “Crescendo”. Or if you want a taster of it you can download Footsteps, the first Austerley and Kirkgordon Origin Story, free.