In Islam, the first command revealed to the Prophet Muhammad was simply: Read. Yet, despite that heritage, reading is quietly slipping from the centre of our everyday lives. Increasingly, the first question people ask is not whether an article is worth reading, but whether it is too long. Strong reading cultures create demanding readers, and demanding readers push journalists, editors and publishers to do better. A nation that slowly loses the habit of reading does not only change the way it consumes information.