The file of reading books by people around the world, especially Iranians, has changed significantly due to the coronavirus and long-term quarantines afterwards. However, in order to better understand this change, we must consider and accept the new types of reading in statistics, and acknowledge that all audio and visual products that are currently being made and published around the theme of books play a role in the statistics of reading and Iranian readers. This number, which was previously estimated to be very low, is no longer in its previous state.

The intensity of the products produced around books is to the extent that nowadays it is rare to find a teenager or young person who is not listening to a podcast or watching a video about books.

The good thing about the development of technology in the field of reading is this; now, more than a decade ago, you see people using books in their daily conversations.

This pleasant face also has an unhappy side, which is the chaos and turmoil that has taken shape with a focus on reading books.

The economy of the book market is heavily reliant on yellow works, especially in the areas of philosophy, lifestyle, and history, which adds to the chaos. Carrying with them conflicting beliefs, personal analyses, and political and historical distortions, these baggage are thrown into the world of ordinary and uninformed people through book etiquette and influencers, often acting like cluster bombs that cause irreparable destruction and reconstruction.

The high number of references to books such as “My Struggle” is concerning, especially for people who are in the midst of a historical struggle for immigration. This is just one example that shows how many audio and visual products have been created around a book that essentially adds to its propaganda.

In fact, it can be said that the uncontrolled growth of peripheral products in the book industry has taken over the place of books, and this should be more concerning than the low statistics of book readers in Iran. These products, by being placed between people and books, are essentially trying to provide a simpler path for impatient book enthusiasts and define books in a certain way for their audience. In this process, we are dealing with narratives rather than the essence of the subject. The subject is not the book itself in many podcasts and other YouTube videos, and even the references to the original book are sometimes so scarce and weak that the audience is limited to the knowledge they gain through these works. And what is more concerning than the fact that the book is no longer at the heart of the story and the field of conversation.

It may seem like a classic, biased and rigid idea, but I think that the development of reading can have a damaging result if it is only focused on the book itself. Although it is not impossible, it can have a harmful outcome. The abundance of celebrities and influencers who say things like “I was reading this book that…” instead of creating interest in the reader, they force them to be just a small part of the same narrative, not knowing if that piece can represent the whole subject of the book or not.

The idea of returning to books is also an eternal and timeless idea about books that protects them from being stolen, distorted, and expelled from the center of attention. What is happening today in the form of podcasts, re-readings, videos, and storytelling around the axis of books is reminiscent of Hollywood’s efforts in the 20th century to make film adaptations of popular novels around the world; a project that, by promoting consumerism and simplifying the idea of reading-worthy novels, has made many people feel satisfied with just watching those adaptations and consider themselves exempt from reading the books.

Italo Calvino, in the introduction to his book “Why Read the Classics,” expresses surprise at the fact that many claim to have read the world’s famous novels. He rightly poses the question, then, why the world is still in a state of chaos and continues to revolve around its former axis (paraphrased). Perhaps in the 20th century, this question was a serious critique of the book market, but today, as books have transcended their market and reached other media, a different answer can be given. If today, the statistics of media producing content about books are higher than ever, but the lack of a core intellectual group that places books at the center of storytelling has resulted in us hearing a multitude of single sentences from this and that person that have the least connection and closeness to the foundation of the book.