Tuesday, April 2, 2013

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 213

A SMALL GROUP OF READING FANATICS KEEP THE BOOK MARKET GOING

I AM (MODESTLY, OF COURSE) PROUD TO SAY I AM ONE OF THEM

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The Atlantic is an amazingly well written, intelligent and relevant magazine. If there is an issue of importance around—and, life being the way it is, there tends to be—it will cover it with expertise, insight, and humor. Not only is its coverage timely, but it is intelligent.

I was introduced to it by Jim Fallows. He wanted to interview me and offered a compelling bribe—a free subscription to The Atlantic for a year plus a flight for me and my children in his Cirrus aircraft. Since I love flying in small planes, I folded immediately—and Jim, as is his way, was good to his word. If he was Japanese, he would be dubbed a National Living Treasure. Leaving aside his talents as a journalist—which are widely recognized—he is a commendable human being. Better yet, let me award him the ultimate Irish accolade: He is a decent man.

I have read The Atlantic ever since. These days I mostly read it on the web where stories are updated with the speed of a daily newspaper.

The Atlantic story was prompted by Amazon’s purchase of Goodreads. Now the latter is where you go if you want your fellow readers to recommend good books. The site is a form of specialist Social Media—but is more functional than most in my opinion. It is accessible, easy to use, extremely helpful—and its members seem to be reading fanatics, text oriented Taliban.

What more could Amazon want! Why so?

Because, according to Codex Group (about whom I know nothing) 19 percent of Americans did/do 79 percent of all our book reading.

This is a near literal example of the 80/20 rule. Do I believe it?

Absolutely. For years, my ration has been two or three books a week—and I have long known I have company.

Good grief, why face up to real life if you can read!

 

 

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