<BR>As a London resident, I make much use of our tube, bus and overland rail network. It's struck me that almost always, at least 50% of passengers are reading. Not only do they devour novels, newspapers and magazines, but riders also read biography and autobiography, history books, trade literature, even advertising supplements. In short, they love to read! <BR>I want to know whether other travellers have noticed this aspect of London life, and would also ask whether they think Londoners lead the way, or whether there are even more literate city dwellers out there. <BR>F Y I, I am currently reading 'Fire Under The Snow' by Palden Gyatso, which I will soon finish. After that it'll be 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow'. {Unless you have any recommendations?}

That's nice, Nigel. Have you been to NY lately? We NYer's also enjoy passing time on our subways, buses, etc. by reading any and all material.

Maybe Nigel and Timothy are actually showing that Londoners and New Yorkers are too reserved to talk to or risk making eye contact with strangers. <BR>I wonder whether observing the incidence of reading on public transportation is the best way of assesing how well-read a group is. It's often too loud to talk or listen to music, so what else are you going to do to pass the time? <BR>A better test might be to peek in people's windows and see how they pass the time at home or to follow them around and see what percentage of the day is spent reading.

<BR>A reply you may not have thought of is Bengal, both halves. Not the illiterate people of course, but masses of middle claass people, with hardly a penny tio their name, spend weekly on books, and read them all over the place -- busses, trains, ferries. Colporteurs walk the waterfronts with the latest novels (often in pirated copies). It's an old and rich culture. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR> <BR> <BR>

A ride on Washington's Metro subway system, and especially the Red Line linking the city's northwest suburbs to the Federal Triangle, reveals a pattern similar to the one you observe in London. Perhaps national capitals have more in common than we ordinarily suppose. <BR> <BR>Newspapers and magazines predominate on the Metro. Nigel, you'll find "The Economist" comes very close to being required reading among Washingtonians, and I even see "FT pink" with some regularity. I am regularly impressed by the transnational character of the newspapers. For a nation that otherwise appears to have no desire to learn a second (or third) language, Washingtonians devour non-English literature with abandon. <BR> <BR>Books? Yes, quite a few, though the preponderance of what I have seen over the years tends toward the safe and predictable. Perhaps there is only so much you can comprehend in a 20 minute commute. <BR> <BR>If you have not read "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Iain Pears, then put it on your must-read list. It is one of the most literate, best researched, and superbly though-out novels I have encountered in this decade. <BR>