International Book Day

What the day is

International Book Day is listed here on March 6. UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day falls on April 23, so the calendar carries more than one, and organizations differ on which they mark.

Origin and background

The most useful current finding concerns the medium rather than the reading. Analyses pooling many studies that compared comprehension of the same text on paper and on screen have generally found a modest advantage for paper, and the effect is strongest for informational text, for reading under time pressure, and for longer pieces. It has persisted as screens improved, which argues against it being a matter of display quality.

The explanations offered are worth knowing because they suggest what to do about it. One is that a physical book gives the text a stable geography: a passage has a place on a page and a position in the thickness of the book, and that spatial memory supports recall in a way an undifferentiated scroll does not. Another is that readers approach screens with habits formed by skimming, and unconsciously read faster and shallower. A third is simply that a device carries interruptions and a book does not.

Studies also find readers overestimate how well they have understood text on screen, which is the more troubling part: the comprehension gap comes with a confidence gap pointing the wrong way.

None of this argues against digital reading, which is cheaper, searchable and accessible in ways print is not. It argues for matching the medium to the task, and for slowing down deliberately when reading something demanding on a device.

How to take part

• Read something demanding on paper and notice the difference.
• Put the phone in another room rather than beside the book.
• Use the library, which is free and in decline partly through disuse.
• Finish the book you abandoned, or abandon it properly and start another.
• Give a book away rather than shelving it again.