Across Britain, a particular hour on a particular day (perhaps a Sunday afternoon) will be named Reading Hour. On that day, during that hour, venues across Britain will go silent and people will sit (or stand) and read. From bars and cafes, to cinemas, parks, prisons, restaurants, airports, and of course bookshops and libraries, everyone visiting will stop what they are doing, and read to themselves. It will be a mass read-in. People can of course join in at home in their own sitting rooms and beds, but bizarre locations will be encouraged, and the noisier the venue in ‘normal’ times, the better it will be to get them to go silent. People walking in the streets of Britain will stop where they are and read (drivers of course will have to pull over). Some venues will be opened specifically for Reading Hour – perhaps readers will be encouraged to bring cushions to a particular area of a park, and publishers will be willing to provide books for people who are caught short without a book. In the same way that Earth Hour has become an international phenomenon with many buildings around the world switching off their lights for an hour, perhaps with Reading Hour they will allow readers to sit and read.