On Books

So I was just in the midst of my mid-afternoon check of the day's news when I came across this piece on a bright spot in an otherwise pessimistic publishing industry. With the release of the autobiography by the late Ted Kennedy and the newest guilty pleasure thriller by Dan Brown, the publishing industry - battered by a deep recession - is finally seeing some glimmers of hope. (In my completely unscientific survey, I noticed that by Thursday afternoon, the main display for Dan Brown's book at the Trinity bookstore was already empty. And I'm pretty sure the bookstore wasn't even offering a 40% discount.) Perhaps people will be reinvigorated and once again interested in the simple, classic book. 

It seems that although people are still reading, the "book" is mildly threatened. The Kindle is being marketed as the new 'it' thing to have and a viable replacement. A prep school in Massachusetts decided to abolish its library by going all digital. And people are now viewing books as one of the easiest items to cut out of discretionary spending. 

Though I don't consider the book to be part of the collective media (newspapers, internet, magazines, radio, television), I do believe it is still a tool of mass communication. So I find it interesting to track the health of it. 

I remember reading an article a few months back in Vanity Fair on The Kindle. For those not familiar, The Kindle is Amazon's portable reading device that is almost like an iPod Touch for books. The article's author, who I believe was writing partially tongue-in-cheek (though you never know with Vanity Fair) was lamenting the intrusion of the Kindle onto his casual spying of people's readings on the New York City subway. How else can you anonymously judge a person and, in turn, gauge the modern zeitgeist if the reading material is hidden from view? "Pity the cultural snob, as Kindles, iPods, and flash drives swallow up the visible markers of superior taste and intelligence. With the digitization of books, music, and movies, how will the high brow distinguish him- or herself from the masses?", he writes. I just love the article for its blatant embrace and defense of snobbery and the valid questions it raises on the potential demise of the traditional, beloved book.