The decline in importance of books as a reference of knowledge and fun is a thought of some people. Personally, I totally agree on the argument because the incoming trend of internet and new categories of media becoming alternative sources.
Internet is an important reason of the decline in books preference. Currently, people prefer to access information in computers because they can reach a number of sources within few seconds and searching tools facilitate reader to find relavant topics. For example, high school students in Thailand use a tablet instead of textbooks since they can search their queries on the internet immediately once feel confused lessons. Furthermore, their teachers also provide supplement materials in electronic forms. These devices are convenient to carry to the classroom compared to books which weight many times.
Nowadays, people change their source of entainterment from traditional books into new media such as movies. That because perceiving on images and sounds can attract more audiences than ordinary plain texts. The revenues of fiction books and their adapted movies evidence the superiority of new media, such as, Harry Potter, Marvel comics and Titanic. All of them are the movies that can hold positions in the most profitable movies in the world. On the otherhands, some of their books are just normal books that is never listed on the chart. Contrary to movies that can represent characters and atmospheres directly, books require a lot of imagination to understand through intensive reading.
in conclusion, the incoming trend of internet and media are replacing the importance of books. The convenient of the new sources and the shifting of audiences preference are the main reason that negatively impact books.