More From the Squirming Publishing Industry

I have an ungodly plethora (by which I mean “an overflowing Stickie on my desktop”) of links to articles about this, that and the other thing about how hard the economy is hitting (book) publishing. This particular piece, though, caught my eye; maybe it was the first-person perspective, maybe the resigned yet not hopeless tone. Regardless, maybe you’ll find it interesting too. It’s from the London Review of Books, and is by one Colin Robertson. This paragraph in particular is lovely — what he says isn’t new, but it’s so nicely put:

Perhaps the problem has to do with more than just the way in which words are transmitted. People bowl alone, shop online, abandon cinemas for DVDs, and chat to each other electronically rather than go to a bar. In an increasingly self-centred society a premium is placed on being heard rather than listening, being seen rather than watching, and on being read rather than reading.

Read the rest here.