“What are you reading for?”

So begins the infamous comedy sketch by hard-smoking, often-profane comedian Bill Hicks as he relays the enquiry made by a waffle-waitress when he dares to read a book while eating in her restaurant.

His retort; “so I don’t have to be a waffle waitress” (I’ve paraphrased out of respect for readers’ sensitivities).

It was a characteristically cutting line from Hicks, but the exchange provides a useful lead-in for considering the merits of reading.