Director's message on the eve of the 2nd Techno Book Exhibition

This is a message from the director on the eve of the 2nd Techno Book Exhibition being organized by the Central Library during March 2-4, 2023. It is adapted from a Letter of an Indian Engineer.

The engineer wrote - “Once I was at Frankfurt International Airport. I noticed that most of the German passengers were quietly reading or working, while most Asian passengers were shopping or laughing, comparing prices. At another time, a French friend of mine asked me why Asians chit chat or surf the internet, but seldom reads books."
 
According to the media, per year, an average Chinese reads 0.7 books, Vietnamese 0.8 books, Indian 1.2 books and Korean 7 books. Only Japan compares with Western countries with 40 books, and Russia 55 books. Two countries that like to read the most in the world are Israel and Hungary. In Israel, the average person reads 64 books a year. The population of Israel is sparse, but the talents are numerous. Although the country's history is short, there have been eight Nobel laureates. Israeli society is orderly, and Israelis win respect from people worldwide. Hungary has nearly 20,000 libraries, and an average of 500 people have a library; going to the library is as good as going to a coffee shop or a supermarket. Hungary is also the country with the most significant number of people reading books in the world, with more than 5 million people reading regularly every year, exceeding a quarter of the population of this country.
 
A reason for not liking reading is that a child's personality is formed mainly from the family, and parents do not have the practice to read books. Another is "exam-heavy education", which makes young children not have the time and energy to read books outside. Most of the time, if they even read books, those are to serve the exams.

Knowledge is power and property. A country or an individual who values reading and accumulating knowledge from books is treated well. People who read have a very different way of thinking no matter what industry they work in. Even if they don't have brilliant achievements, they still have a great mindset. Many races are vibrant but not civilized. Similarly, many individuals have a lot of money but cannot reach elegance just because they lack the depth of knowledge.
 
Books don't just affect an individual but the entire society. A great scholar once said: "The history of a person's thought development is her reading history". A community will develop or stay behind, depending on how many people read books and what type of books they choose to read.