I just drove 8.9 miles to and back from my favorite library. It’s 4:50 pm and there’s traffic galore. Besides feeling a little guilty for driving my hybrid car, I was stupefied at how many cars were on the city streets. Don’t get me wrong, all the ones on my route out and home behaved nicely. And other than feeling a little whelmed about how many of us there are, as I idled at red lights, I wondered if anyone else in the herd had just been to the library. I didn’t see any of these vehicles leave that parking lot, so I conclude that all these drivers and their passengers are on other errands.

I’d like to think that at least some of them were headed home to a quiet evening and a good book. But that may be a daydream. How many read physical books? How many read books on some electronic device? How many read anything? As bookish as I am, even I get my news from NPR on that Google thingy. But as far as I can tell by a quick search, US book sales in 2020 numbered 942 million in print and e-books. So, maybe there’s hope that some of those drivers might be hurrying home to read. I can hope.