This statement can be questioned in the light of the sale of books in both England and America since 1978. People have been crying wolf, of course, but the threat now comes from different quarters. Concerns about the demise of literature and reading seem to have been hibernating for a long time. Suddenly, these days, they have started to surface again, but this time the enfant terrible is the internet. The sounding note, however, is not a pessimistic one.
Research indicates that books have been standing up to the challenge.
Recently in The Sunday Times, Bryan Appleyard raised these questions with reference to many writers. According to statistics, the British book market currently looks more solid than the American. Appleyard then comes to the crucial point about the claim that computers will be putting books out of business, a heresy propagated by the current British mania for computers in schools. It is as if school children need them, from their earliest years, much like they need vaccinations. The real problem with the entire hi-tech culture is the destructive neutrality stemming from the idea of information.