Electronic devices a boon for avid readers

I note the writer’s concerns in “Social media has contributed to falling number of readers” (Aug 17), about the decreasing number of book readers.

I am an avid reader; crime thriller or autobiography, fiction or non-fiction, I devour all of them. Thankfully, gone are the days when I had to leave space in my suitcase for some 10 hardbacks for my yearly holiday.

Thankfully, my Kindle e-reader stores 300-plus of my read and unread books, and I can now read them also on my mobile phone.

So if the writer spots a 60-year-old silver-haired expatriate staring at his phone on his travels, he is not social networking, SMSing, WhatsApping, et cetera — he is intent on finishing the final chapter before the next stop.