Tachotchek, marielameche and catachrest,
Sorry, I've made a terrible mistake with the subject of the sentence, should be "a bookless society', not "books', that is unpopular.
Thus, the meaning should be: A bookless society can't stand the test of time, can't put up a show in this modern world.
I've made my corrections on Stabilo's thread:
traduction
I should be more careful next time.