Despite constant fears that the media is `dumbing down', western society is reading and writing more than ever before. Internet bookshops have renewed interest in books, and the text-based web has reintroduced many readers who had given up on books back into the reading habit. Though the web is moving towards a more multi-format medium, augmented with audio, video and even tactile and olefactory elements, its primary focus is text, and this has had a significant impact. There has been a rediscovery of the power of text to portray emotion, personality and landscape, especially potent in a world where the imagination has been so little exercised through the pervasive immersion of television.