What with all the publishers' restructurings, firings and so on, not to mention the reportedly weak book sales for the holiday season, plus the general sense all around that the sky is falling and book publishing is in its final death throes--well, it's nice to see that not everyone agrees that books are dead.
I mean I read stuff like this article in which Larry McMurtry foretells the end of book culture and I gotta say, "Hold on, here. It's not all that bad, is it? Kids read books. What about Harry Potter? What about this Twilight series I keep hearing about?"
It's important to note that McMurtry thinks books are a dying pastime based on his observation that most of the customers at his antiquarian bookstore are over 40. Um, Larry, that's not exactly a scientific sampling, is it? And how many kids do you think would have an interest in old and rare books?
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