Dateline: Los Angeles

In a world rapidly transforming from a physical universe into a digital one where the instantaneous access to anything knowable is a click away and the physical desire for many physical items is fading like the dust cover of a first edition Hemmingway            A Farewell To Arms, it's comforting to know that something so basic as a simple book still has value.

World Book Day happens Wednesday, April 23, 2025 and intends to keep the written word alive    and well.

World Book Day, officially known as World Book and Copyright Day, is an annual celebration held on April 23 to promote reading, publishing, and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.

Established by UNESCO in 1995, the date was chosen to honor the deaths of literary giants  William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, all of whom died on April 23, 1616. 

(Source: Chat GBT.)

The phenomena of the written word is unique to humans and will perhaps prove to be the salvation to its existence.

Whence man has turned to dust and a new steward of the planet emerges, the evidence of Man's mind (foregoing the buildings and technology, and the beauty and the blight), what will remain will be the thoughts committed to the physical page, and the eloquent expression of ideas and ambitions.

Perhaps the next inhabitants will erect a place where they will display the relics of written history displaying dusty bound paper called books and call it a Library?

Until then however, we celebrate and rejoice in the knowledge that World Book Day is here and books are still a      beautiful thing.

So read a book, write a book, share a book, and like a book… While you still can.

For more information on the world of books or the process of writing and publishing yours, contact Michael J. Herman.

Michael J. Herman is the author of 16 published books and more than 8,000 published articles.

You can find Michael on Substack and at michaeljherman.com