So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance

Rating:
Summary: Purposes of reading and publishing rethought
Review: 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.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Great short essays on the reading life
Review: I knew that this book was written for "my kind of people" when in the opening paragraphs he describes the dual awe and anxiety that compulsive readers feel upon entering used book stores and libraries filled with literally tons of unread books. Zaid discusses the problems and opportunities faced by readers (and the whole book industry) in a world already full of books and where a new book is published every 30 seconds. Much of what he finds is Library Science 101 material: collections must be about selectivity and exclusion, not simply quantity. He is compelling when he argues that above all reading should be viewed and used in a social context. A manuscript's value must be measured by how it affects you. Books should change how you feel, help you to feel more alive, improve relationships and understanding, or help you participate in a conversation.

Rating:
Summary: Hello, bibliophilia!
Review: In this delightful critique, Zaid explores the publishing industry and the joys of having a plethora of books to read. He touches on the culture and technology of books, as well as the functions of libraries and bookstores in the whole scheme of publishing. Entertaining, informative, and laudatory, "So Many Books" is a bibliophile's must-read and reminds readers exactly why it is we find such happiness in books.