- Taschenbuch: 144 Seiten
- Verlag: Paul Dry Books; Auflage: Paul Dry Books. (September 2003)
- Sprache: Englisch
- ISBN-10: 158988003X
- ISBN-13: 978-1589880030
- Größe und/oder Gewicht: 18,5 x 10,9 x 1,1 cm
- Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 902.091 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)
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So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance
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Produktbeschreibungen
From Booklist
"The human race publishes a book every thirty seconds," observes Mexico City-based poet and essayist Zaid, and therefore "how is a single book among the millions to find its readers?" This is the conundrum upon which Zaid builds his incisive, wry, ultimately celebratory meditation on the chaotic and wasteful, yet exciting and felicitous world of books. Believing that culture is a conversation conducted on many levels around various foci, of which books constitute a vital and crucial number, Zaid reminds readers that books don't have to reach a huge audience to have impact but, rather, must be read by the right readers. Zaid also considers our ambivalence regarding books: we want them to be readily available--that is, produced and sold as commodities--but we also hold them sacred. He then parses the absurdities inherent in the economics of publishing, notes with stinging wit the frustrating fact that more people want to write than to read, and delights in the fecundity and diversity of book ecology. Lively, cosmopolitan, and piquant, Zaid's treatise will engage every serious reader. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Kurzbeschreibung
This brief guide argues that, in the future, books will be less precious than the time it takes to read them. It addresses how to tackle personal "must read" lists and pare them down to the books that will truly benefit their readers -- which ones to start this year, which to put on hold, and which to pull off the sagging shelves. This witty volume describes the importance of books, the way they deepen conversations, and how they create a special hold on their readers. Rather than attempting to answer the question "What should we be reading?", it encourages individuals to come up with their own answers.
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16 Rezensionen
21 von 22 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Wonderful meditations on the place and value of books
2. Januar 2004
Format:Taschenbuch
It's largely coincidental that I read this at the turn of the old and new year, but I may just make re-reading this thoughtful little book an annual event. Both elegant and wise, "So Many Books" is not simply a defense of the book as a medium. It's also, on a larger scale, a defense of reading, of those who choose (and, as the author notes, really know *how*) to read, and of the place of reading in inter-cultural and inter-generational "conversations."
Gabriel Zaid looks at the economics of the publishing industry, and also the relative merits of books over both older (oral tradition, parchment) and newer (e-books, CD-ROMs) means of storing and exchanging information. He places reader, author, and individual book within a "constellation" of books in which ideas are exchanged. And he weaves "a hairshirt for masochistic authors" by showing how few books are read, preserved, or -- frankly -- even noticed by the reading public.
But most of all, Zaid shows that books are nothing less than the cornerstone of the effort to define, preserve, and expand culture. The fact that there are so many books to read shouldn't depress us but, instead, excite us and make those of us committed to reading a bit more secure in what some no doubt consider our eccentricity. This is a title I hope to return to again and again.
15 von 16 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Purposes of reading and publishing rethought
30. März 2004
Format:Taschenbuch
Gabriel Zaid's "So Many Books" is a stimulating and
provocative book for anyone interested in book
publishing. His brief, inexpensive book can be read in
a single sitting, yet its ideas will, I suspect,
percolate for a long time afterwards.
provocative book for anyone interested in book
publishing. His brief, inexpensive book can be read in
a single sitting, yet its ideas will, I suspect,
percolate for a long time afterwards.
Books need to address small and specific readerships,
and computer digitization and internet communication
technologies are fostering that. Thus, a renaissance of
reading is now at hand. How we think about books, Zaid
argues, needs to be reoriented from emphasis on
publishing and best-sellers to emphasis on reading and
the conversation that books can stimulate. Books, Zaid
argues following Socrates, are a means to something
greater: private and public conversation enlivening and
sustaining civilization and culture.
Books of paper, ink, and glue will endure long into the
future, helped, not hindered, by new technology to
bypass their current commodification by big corporate
entities. (For more about that, read Jason Epstein's
"The Book Business" (2001).) Already, books are
relatively cheap to produce (compared, for example, to
films). One needs only a few thousand readers to break
even. (Think, for example, of the impact of samizdat
publications of Soviet dissidents, of Thomas Paine's
"Common Sense", and of contemporary zines.) These
advantageous economics, making possible publication of
niche works, should grow as print on demand technology
drives the costs lower. (The primary way this will
happen is by reducing the expense and risk assumed by
publishers and booksellers in maintaining inventory.)
Zaid's approach identifies new concerns. First, a
book's major cost is not the purchase price but the
time and attention required to read it. Brevity and
conciseness are important, as Zaid's book itself
demonstrates. Second, matchmaking becomes even more
important: books and readers must be able to find each
other.
4 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
For Writers to Think About
12. Juli 2005
Format:Taschenbuch
This is a short, worthwhile book. Zaid does a great job of separating romantic ideas of "immortal words" and how books and writers "ought" to be appreciated from what makes a book truly worthwhile. As a writer, I found this short book of essays relevant to my own ongoing questions about what publishing ought to do. It helped me better understand that the success of a book isn't so much about numbers of copies sold as about whether the book participates in a real conversation. Take Me With You When You Go
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