KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — The decline of reading culture and the rise of shallow thinking in the digital age are pressing challenges that could threaten the future of civilisation, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In a Facebook post yesterday, the prime minister shared his thoughts after taking time to read the latest work by James Marriott, titled The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society.
He said the threat to civilisation does not stem from a loss of access to knowledge — of which there is now a glut — but from society’s waning love and patience for reading, reflecting, and thinking critically and deeply.
“We may be increasingly wealthy in information, yet impoverished in wisdom. The question, therefore, is not merely whether humanity still reads, but whether humanity still wants to think,” he said.
