On the importance of reading books in the era of AI

Lately there have been a spate of book-related events.

On April 19, after 460 days of renovation, the Shanghai Ancient Bookstore reopened with a lineup of 1,600 thread-bound Chinese books, and 50,600 books on traditional Chinese culture, in a spruced-up 3,000-square-meter floor space across six floors, which is arguably the biggest bookstore of its kind in China.

An old reader asked a more pertinent question: After your remodeling, is it still quintessentially a bookstore?

While a bookstore today could be tolerated for aspiring to Internet fame, it should also stay true to its original objective of serving its readers with books.

I used to visit the discounted books and old books on the third floor, and the pleasure of an unexpected encounter with some good books simply beggars description.

Also I learned that the Fudan Used Bookstore would be hosting a month-long book exhibition of autographed books, as part of an event themed on "Belles-lettres in Yangpu District," to mark the World Book and Copyright Day today, set aside to promote the enjoyment of books and reading.

This date was chosen by UNESCO in 1995, for several prominent authors died on the day, among them William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.

This celebration of reading is of particular significance today, when many are worried about the pervasive influence of electronic devices – digital games or ultrashort videos that could be so engrossing that for some people, nearly every other engagement in daily life is incidental to the ravenous, incessant, and often noisy consumption of digital content.

Some parents used to be worried about the pernicious influence of e-gadgets on children, but some elderly people are among the latest victims of digital obsession.

It's no exaggeration to say that some platforms' relentless provision of easily digestible content has led to a cultural vacuum, seriously compromising genuine, mindful engagement with serious content.

By celebrating the reading of books on this symbolic occasion, the above-mentioned bookstores and a host of other cultural entities are sending an important and sobering message to residents at large: While many of us are glued to the ten-second video clips bombarding us in all directions, they are deplorable substitutes for books.

Even reading per se is experiencing a paradigm shift, as artificial intelligence is making reading infinitely simpler, given AI's capacity for pinpointing the needed information at short notice, and for reducing a huge amount of text into easily accessible, easily digestible, or even visually appealing bits and pieces.

Would these neatly reduced bites be as fulfilling as in-depth engagement with hefty tomes traditionally deemed indispensable for learners and scholars?

As Xu Kun, president of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, wrote in a recent article in China Youth News, book reading is more than just about information input; it's more about thinking, aesthetic experience, emotional resonance, and spiritual enjoyment.

"Although ChatGPT could produce a plausible article at short notice, summarize the central conflict of the story, it is unable to decipher the emotions and ideology between the lines, to say nothing of savoring the vicissitudes of life, or to see the meaning of life at its most sublime and fundamental, as is possible with human readers," Xu wrote.

For since time immemorial, reading has been a source of not only knowledge, but also insight, and the installation of a moral compass, which enables a person to entertain lofty ideals and rise above baser considerations.

Of course, in the digital age, we must make allowance for alternative reading. Reading digital books is already popular, and according to a national survey last year, 36.3 percent of adults choose to read by listening to books.

Over the weekend, I had a chat on books with an old friend in my hometown in the north of Jiangsu, a former colleague surnamed Kang who had already retired. The former Chinese subject teacher revealed that he had splurged 20,000 yuan (US$2,740) on books from online before and after the Chinese New Year.

I expressed my admiration, but secretly worried how he would dispose of this treasure when he was too old to carry on.

Last time Kang was in Shanghai, I meant to take him to the Ancient Bookstore but when we went there, it was closed. I will ask about his impression of the new store next time.