“In the digital age,” he said, “the physicality of the book reminds us of the role of thought, reflection and study.” Reading, he added, “nourishes the mind” and helps form “a conscious and well-formed critical sense.” For Leo, books are a safeguard against intellectual laziness and extremism. He urged people to read “as an antidote to closed-mindedness, which is reflected in rigid attitudes and reductive views of reality.”