The Importance of Reading Books in students’ life

by, Eskja VERO

Abstract

Books play an important role of a teacher, guide, and friend in our life. Why is it important to read books? Why do students need books? This is the great research question we have raised, according to the chairman of the Publishers Association, Petrit Ymeri, which was invited to the UET Forum, in a conversation with students and lecturers at the end of of the 20th edition of the book in Tirana: where he showed the problems facing the book, from VAT to bad translations. One of the concerns raised by UET students in their questions, was the battle of paper book with the digital book and the world of social networks that has involved young people. Concretely, he argued that, “the book is always fashionable, it’s a paper or a digital book, we get it online, download it or not, we read, as Umberto Eco said that we need to flip our eyes when we read on the phone or ipad. The book of paper, continues to be the winner everywhere, because the book of the paper can be re-read. We all know, besides the pleasure we have in our hands, but even when you make a note, you go back to read it again”. (Mapo, 2018). A study published in Social Science & Health shows that reading books has a significant relationship to increase lifespan. A team of public health researchers from Yale University looked at data for 3,635 Americans over age 50 collected from 1992 to 2012. Adjusting for age, sex, race, education, wealth, marital status, and depression they found, that those who read books were more likely to live longer. (Flood, 2016). In this study, we want to measure book readership of students. How many students are currently reading and how to encourage readers of the future? We have compiled a self – questionnaire that measures student involvement with the genre of reading, engagement in fairs, the participation in city libraries, etc. About 80 questionnaires were distributed to see the current situation of students in a Private University (European University of Tirana).

How to cite: Vero, E. (2019). The importance of reading books in students’ life. Polis, 18(2), 54–66.

https://doi.org/10.58944/oaou3396