Beirut – 2009 World Book Capital

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As of yesterday, Beirut is the new book capital of the world.

BEIRUT: Culture Minister Tamam Salam is expected to fly to Paris next week to take over the presidency of the “World Book Capital 2009,” his media office said on Wednesday. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced in April 2007 the nomination of Beirut as the “World Book Capital 2009.” “Beirut should raise awareness about the importance of reading, books and publications all through 2009,” Salam addressed reporters during a lunch at Le Bristol Hotel in Ras Beirut. The official program of Beirut World Book Capital 2009 starts on April 25, 2009 and ends in April 2010. Beirut is the ninth city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid, Alexandria, New Delhi, Antwerp, Montreal, Turin, Bogot‡ and Amsterdam. According to a statement by UNESCO, the city of Beirut was selected “in the light of its focus on cultural diversity, dialogue and tolerance, and of its diverse and stimulating program.”

Source: The Daily Star

I believe minister Tammam Salam has to do double the effort here in Lebanon and the Arab world, as our people simply hate to read. I don’t know the average number of books an Arab reads per year, maybe half a paper? Could be!

Comments

10 responses to “Beirut – 2009 World Book Capital”

April 27, 2009

mir

well if beirut is gonna be the capital… do you know of any good public libraries where we can hangout and read.

honestly i am into reading ebook or digital format… thousands of ebooks can fit into a usb.. and voila!
it is more eco friendly..saves trees and such
I am not gonna share the nbre i read… but it is quite high ! 😛
it will sound as a lie
i think more ppl read blogs.. that counts 😛 no ?

i was considering getting an ebook reader, the sony or the kindle2

i think those devices should be encouraged since they save papers on the env. and hope some evolution in the market makes them possible as students book and such.. would save children from carrying 10 tons on their backs

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April 27, 2009

Posh

Mir,

ebooks are quite popular. But, I could not read a book on the computer or any other designated device. I could read a blog, a poem, a few passages but not a book. Just cannot. I tried, but failed.

I personally think that nothing beats the classical book with its textured pages. I especially love hardbounds. As with being eco friendly, how about recycled material?

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April 27, 2009

farah

Posh i agree with you, i really can’t read from the screen it is also tiring for the eyes.

Mir, you are really stressing on the point on saving the papers and stuff !!! where i am going to work if no papers are involved !!! 🙂

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April 28, 2009

YaX

Hello blogger, (as I didn’t see any mentioning of your name or nickname in your blog) I would like to tell you that your blog is amazing; really great. Keep it up!!

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April 28, 2009

Rami

@mir
Most of the material I read are of a digital format, however I always prefer to read printed stuff.
concerning being eco friendly, ma3leh I think turning a tree into some interesting book is not a waste of resources…

@YaX
Thank you, I appreciate your comment.
My name is Rami btw, and it is missing on the blog because I have installed a new theme lately and it doesn’t include the author’s name in each blog pot. I’ll work on including it again. Thanks for pointing it out! 🙂

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April 28, 2009

mir

farah :
for this short moment, i am glad you are not working in a chemical plant maslan 😛 chemical wars ftw ! otherwise how would farah work 😛
— jokin

well.. it is something u have to get used to,i try to convince many friends to switch to reading pdfs…there are really lot of benefits,the least of them is having a damn huge library at ur disposal anywhere,u can copy-paste paragraphs,color them..share..possiblities are endless 😛

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May 1, 2009

Sefir Tmeneh

eBooks are overated I say. There are pros and cons of course but it kills the feeling of reading off paper which I find most effective and you lose your book shelf!

I use an iPhone and I must admit the eBook app is amazing, this is evolving as the new update of iPhone is released in June 09 and you will be able to purchase any book in the world soon, just as you can download any song in the word off iTunes – iBook in the making I think!

Having said that – I still bought a traditional book yesterday!

BTW, I have 2 brand new 8gb iPhones for sale if anyone is interested!

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September 18, 2009

bilal

70608511 i want iphone pzl call me or by email

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September 20, 2009

Noah

hey guys ,

i’m also considering getting an ebook reader like sony reader or eslick, but i cant find any electronics store in lebanon that have this kind of gadgets , any suggestions plz ?

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December 24, 2009

Habib

I recently sent a mail to Sony MEA and that was their response:

“We understand you are interested in the E-Book Readers products.

Kindly note that there is no plans currently to launch the E-Book Readers products in our region.

Apology for the inconvenience.”

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