I came across an interesting and amusing article on an educational website. I found myself in complete agreement with the author and so I asked him if I may reproduce his article here. Both he and the editors kindly agreed to my request. He claims that e-books inspire young people to read.

Out of my five children only two enjoy reading. One is only eleven months old so she gets a pass, but even my two readers only consume a fraction of the books I did as a child. All of them read plenty of content online, but actually reading for pleasure takes a distant second place to several other types of media. For someone who was a voracious reader and still spends any spare moments reading, this is a bitter pill to swallow, especially since my children are pretty typical digital natives.

So I should have been thrilled to see a report released that painted e-books as a real solution to the decline of reading for pleasure among young people. The report says that technology can be a positive motivator to get young people to read. Of course, if you give a young person an iPad and an iTunes account to be used for books only, they may read more. This will happen to a point and then the novelty will wear off and the call of the Internet will be strong.

There are very few children that have e-book readers because those are adult toys. For me, an e-book reader enables my reading habit. It holds no interest for my children since it lacks any of the convergence features they expect in any reasonable device made in this century.

Commenting on the report, an academic says that if children spend more time reading for fun on e-books, it will help prepare them to tackle more complex texts when they go to high school and university.

Books open the windows to uncharted worlds and innovative ideas. Unfortunately, instead of reading, many young adults spend most of their free time watching television, playing computerised games and listening to music on their iPods.

Reading both fiction and non-fiction offers an edge in our increasingly competitive world. It is a pleasure that should be encouraged and cultivated in our youth. The teenager that reads has a distinct advantage over their peers.

Because reading is an active mental process it will sharpen the mind and increase the memory. The brain has to become more creative while visualising the events unfolding in a book, instead of having images served up on a screen. Unlike reading e-mail or clicking from website to website, when reading a book one has to focus the mind and concentrate for an extended period of time. As a natural part of the process, vocabulary and spelling improve.

Reading a book is like entering the mind of another person, experiencing their thoughts and feelings, logic and reasoning. As a result, a well-read young adult has an enlightened understanding of people. Books introduce new ideas which can open up a different world view. They can lead you to an interest in a previously unexplored career possibility or a new hobby. They may well change the life path a teenager may otherwise have chosen.

Through reading, one can gain a sophisticated world view and a sense of self-confidence from the knowledge gained. Teenagers who read always have something to talk about. Their minds are not saturated with media claptrap.

The best part of reading is the pleasure it gives. It is an escape from the hubbub of the world around them, a real