The Death of Reading?

In an ever more audiovisual age, rumors of the death of reading abound. Even as struggling writers continue to, well, struggle in great numbers for the limited space in journals and newspapers or for the rare book contract, the audience the most successful among them seems to be declining. One bookstore owner in Missouri found he couldn't even give his extra books away, so he resorted to burning them in protest. I can't agree with Mike Bechtel that burning the books is the most effective form of protest, but I think Bechtel is correct, with respect to our society as a whole, that "not reading a book is as good as burning it."