Books are the primary sources of information and entertainment before the television, computer and other great marvels of science were invented. They are the brain's source of food, while the author serves as the "cook" of the readers. Reading expands the mind, stimulates the imagination, increases the vocabulary, and widens the reader's perspective.

Life is a never-ending quest for knowledge. The trend of book reading should continue even if the products of technology are here to help us feed our hunger for information.

In a way, books serve as a time machine. It brings the readers back in whatever year he wants to. The texts and images printed on books are precise, while stories and information that are transferred through word of mouth are fragmented.

Reading awakens our five senses. The words inside a book can make us feel the heat of the Sahara desert or the freezing temperature in the North Pole. A cookbook can stimulate our taste buds. Through words, we can figuratively smell the mouthwatering dish. We can hear the ripples of the sea and the leaves dancing on the forest. We only need to read a book to be able to travel around the world.

The information inside a book serves as a substitute to an actual experience. A reader can create a virtual world from the text that he read. When we were kids, if our brain craves for fairy tales and fables and our parents, lolos and lolas were not around, books substituted their role as storytellers.

Books are the secret of every great man. As a teen-ager, Hitler read almost all the books in his school's library. Jose Rizal learned the fundamentals of writing through a book. Modern day doctors and lawyers may have read the whole collection of a library before the title "doctor" or "attorney" could be attached before their names.

Today, books remain as one of the most basic technologies of modern culture and civilization. The information written inside a book is priceless.

Books are important because they help the people to define and understand their world, culture and experiences. Despite the arrival of modern technology, books remain as an indispensable form of mass communication where the people can learn about their social, political and cultural history.