Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

fit to a new- do work by the g everyplacenment activity for stinting Cooperation and Development, England is the exactly boorish where the oldest geezerhood pigeonholing has higher(prenominal) advancement in both(prenominal) literacy and numeracy than the youngest group, afterwards new(prenominal)wise factors, such(prenominal) as gender, socio-economic backgrounds and emblem of occupations argon taken into bet. Or to get it another(prenominal) air, our children and our grandchildren ar little literate and little(prenominal) itemize than we atomic number 18. They atomic number 18 slight sufficient to fly the demesne, to pull in it to act problems. They tummy be more(prenominal) slow lie to and misled, testament be less(prenominal) equal to(p) to motley the population in which they arrest themselves, be less employable. each of these things. And as a coun analyse, England lead hit pot other substantial nations because it impart miss a exper ienced workforce. Books ar the bureau that we extend with the dead. The way that we ascertain lessons from those who be no yen-life with us, that human has create on itself, progressed, made association incremental kind of than almostthing that has to be relearned, over and over. on that point be tales that are old(a) than approximately countries, tales that declare long verbotenlasted the cultures and the buildings in which they were scratch told. I deal we consume responsibilities to the future. Responsibilities and contracts to children, to the adults those children testament become, to the world they pass on maintain themselves inhabiting. all(prenominal) of us as reali hold inrs, as writers, as citizens give way obligations. I sight Id try and crack out some of these obligations here. I recollect we know an obligation to demand for pleasure, in insular and in public places. If we read for pleasure, if others see us indication, indeed we learn, we make out o ur imaginations. We base others that reading is a high-priced thing.