Literally cruising

A chubby, cheerful Geordie (someone from Newcastle in England), he is an interesting man to talk to and a genial host. However, immaculately clean and tidy and tastefully furnished though the house was, there was not a single book in sight as far as I could see. I wondered why a couple who is obviously intelligent had no books. And they are far from alone.

According to recent statistics, only one in three children in the UK has books (any books) at home and yet adult literacy in the UK is 99 percent according to the most recent UNICEF statistics, putting it joint 20th in the world. Turkey, on the other hand, lies at 98th globally, with an adult literacy rate of 90.8 percent. Educationalists and sociologists in the UK are deeply concerned about language and literature development here and, while the above UNICEF figure looks excellent, it gives no indication of the downward trend among children and young people. Indeed, broader indices are more alarming. In 2004, for example, statistics published by the National Book Centre of Greece in a national survey on reading behavior revealed that the reading public corresponds to 85 percent in Sweden; to 76 percent in the UK; to 75 percent in France; to 45 percent in Spain and to 42 percent in Italy. Greece and Turkey are below these numbers, with Greece recording the worst in Europe. According to Eurobarometer, readership breakdown in Greece by the number of books read in a 12-month period was as follows:

Read more than 10 books: 8.6 percent.

Read from 1-9 books: 25.4 percent.

Read only practical, professional or text books: 22.2 percent.

Didn't read any books: 22.2 percent.

Lest we be tempted to sneer and point the finger at Greece, we should recall that Turkey's record is not much better.

It is universally accepted that reading plays an essential part in educational, intellectual and linguistic development. The stigma of illiteracy that still stalks the globe, even into the deepest recesses of highly advanced countries like the US, continues to create an alarming juxtaposition of success and failure within a number of societies. An article in Science Daily dated May 20, 2010 says that whether we are rich or poor, residents of the United States or China, illiterate or college graduates, parents who have books in the home increase the level of education their children will attain, according to a 20-year study led by Mariah Evans, University of Nevada, Reno, associate professor of sociology and resource economics.

Says the article: “For years, educators have thought the strongest predictor of attaining high levels of education was having parents who were highly educated. But, strikingly, this massive study showed that the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as having parents who are barely literate (3 years of education) compared to having parents who have a university education (15 or 16 years of education). Both factors, having a 500-book library or having university-educated parents, propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average.”

Evans was particularly interested to find that children of lesser-educated parents benefit the most from having books in the home. She has been looking for ways to help Nevada's rural communities in terms of economic development and education. "What kinds of investments should we be making to help these kids get ahead?" she asked. "The results of this study indicate that getting some books into their homes is an inexpensive way that we can help these children succeed." Evans went on to say: "Even a little bit goes a long way" in terms of the number of books in a home. Having as few as 20 books in the home, she suggested, still has a significant impact on propelling a child to a higher level of education, and the more books you add, the greater the benefit. "You get a lot of 'bang for your book'," she said. "It's quite a good return-on-investment in a time of scarce resources."

Kathy Hamilton has already alerted readers of this newspaper to the same issue. Writing in her article “The importance of books at home,” published by Today's Zaman on July 31, 2010, she cites research published in the Research in Social Stratification and Mobility journal that highlights the importance of books in the home. According to the study, there is a direct correlation between how many books are in the home and how many years of education a child will complete.

Researchers M.D.R. Edwards, Jonathan Kelley, Joanna Sikorac and Donald J. Treimand examined samples from 27 different countries and found that growing up in a home with 500 or more books offers a child the same advantage as “having university-educated rather than unschooled parents, and twice the advantage of having a professional rather than an unskilled father.” Even with as few as 25 books in the home, a child, on average, will complete two more years of education than a child growing up in a home with no books.

Fortunately, there are initiatives in Turkey to address the dearth of books per household as well as encourage anyone and everyone to read. For example, NT Book and Stationary, in collaboration with Metro Turizm and Zambak Publishing, launched a reading program in 2011 designed to literally place books in the hands of millions of intercity bus passengers. The program, titled “The Reading Passenger” (Okuyan Yolcu), was designed to encourage reading among the wider community. Under the scheme, Metro Turizm distributed books for passengers to read to while away the boredom of a long road journey. NT General Manager Şeref Zekai Kolak said the goal of the project was to create a Turkey that reads.

Something is happening and it is not all bad news. On July 4, 2011, this newspaper reported that Guinness World Records officials had informed the Malatya Governor's Office that the 23,822 bookworms who gathered in Malatya's İnönü football stadium on May 12 had officially broken the Guinness world record for simultaneous book reading, beating the standing record of 15,440 people.

Captain C. may not have any “real” books at home, but he does have a Kindle and has already downloaded a number of collections by his favorite authors. The rapid explosion in e-reader sales, especially Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad, suggests a whole new reading experience is opening up. Will Turkey's passion for gadgets lead to an increase in reading for pleasure? Are we cruising towards improved literacy across the country and among all age groups, or has downloading virtually killed off the “real” book? We'll see.