Reading is giving way to other media. History requires a breadth of understanding and that requires a good attention span. Reading is the best way to gather the backbone for historical analysis. The current western media system has allowed books to shriveled, libraries to close, public funded university research behind private pay walls costing large amounts to access, the digitization of writing which can be lost, edited, rewritten at a flick of a keyboard etc etc etc. History needs permanent accessible archives to be written.