What if the evil powers at work in the universe arranged it so that should you ever read for pleasure again your children will drop dead. If you have no children then whoever it would pain you most to cause the death of will drop dead.
Could you do it?
You are allowed to read road signs, instruction manuals, prices at the grocery store, whatever you need to perform your duties. You can’t read The Straight Dope though. No audiobooks neither.
I think I could. I think it would be very very hard. It would be like a death. It would be like losing a limb, like losing half my brain. I would probably get depressed.
I don’t know if I could. I’d try, really, really, hard, but I’m the kind of person who will read the back of shampoo bottles if I have nothing else to read. I’m afraid I’d slip up sooner or later…probably sooner.
I’d be miserable, but I’d do it to save my partner’s life (but he would never want me to). Short of that, they’d have to pry books from my cold, dead hands.
To save my kids I could do damn near anything but I would hate hate hate not having reading in my life. It is core to who I am.
Color me one of those who was grounded* from* reading as a kid. The cruelest thing was when my mom took a book away when I was right in the middle of it! Oh that was torture.
For a kid? I’d do it in a heartbeat. It would be incredibly difficult, but you’re talking about my (imagined) kid’s life, for god’s sake. Wouldn’t parents do anything for their kids?
I would try really hard, but short of blinding myself, I’m rather positive I would slip up at some point and accidentally read the back of some container for non-instructional purposes. I really would have to go around with a blindfold or poke my eyes out.