The Golden Age of Books: first in a series

  The Greenwich Book Exchange
  Photos Taken by Tom Allen

When people find out I’m the CEO of Levenger, they frequently ask if I’m worried that our business could dwindle as people turn away from books. When I respond that I believe books will be with us for a while longer, most people give me a silent half-nod. It seems they don’t want to disabuse me of my quaint view. I can’t really blame them for thinking I’m out of touch.

Today there is plenty of hand-wringing about how a barrage of new media are stealing time away from reading. Government studies reinforce with statistics what we see by looking around: young people find 3D video games and Facebook more interesting than Jane Eyre.   

Since our business is tied to such social changes, I continuously query people about their reading habits. Yet what I’m finding makes me feel encouraged rather than discouraged about reading, especially the reading of books.

In fact, from all the good news I see, I’m going to suggest that we may be entering a magnificent new era in reading that is already far better than anything we had in those good old days, whenever they might have been.

I’ll here begin a series of postings on why, in my opinion, we are now entering the Golden Age of Books.

Why We’re Entering the Golden Age of Books:
Reason No. 1: Our Historic High Tides of Books

We are swimming in books. In both the number of titles, and the sheer quantities of books printed, the world has never seen anything like what we have today. In 2004, the last year statistics are available, the global production of books in English amounted to a mind-boggling 450,000 titles.

The U.S. production alone increased 15% between 2002 and 2006, surging from about 250,000 titles to 300,000 per year. The only genres of books to show declines over these years were juvenile and computer books. Yet more than making up for those declines are significant increases in poetry, drama, religion, philosophy, fiction and biography.

In 2006, Americans  spent an estimated $24.2 billion buying books, a figure that has been increasing about 3% per year since 2003.  Many, if not most, of the books we purchased at a discount—a discount we have come to expect, although it was rare just a generation ago.

These figures don’t include the millions of books that readers purchase and then giveaway, some of which end up being sold for a dollar or two at thrift shops and libraries.

Libraries get so many donations, in fact, that it’s become a burden for them to process. Few books actually make it into library circulation. Most are sold for a buck or a few quarters (even for nice hardcovers). Uncounted numbers of paperbacks are heaped onto shelves and squeezed into bins marked “FREE.”

Like puppies at the animal shelter, more free books vie for our attention at town halls, company lunchrooms, clubs, hotel lobbies—even waste stations.

The Greenwich Book Exchange is one example. This popular outpost at the Greenwich, Connecticut, waste transfer station started about 25 years ago when two senior citizens who were volunteering there became bothered by the hundreds of books being thrown out. They decided to put some of the books on a table so people could see them. Many then disappeared as Greenwich townspeople dropped off garbage and picked up Gibbon.

The number of boxes grew and grew, soon spilling out of the container being used to store them.

“I finally conned the head of public works into a building—a shed 8 by 16 feet where books are arranged by size and alphabetically,” says Doug Francefort, one of the founders, and the person in charge of the operation today.

You can find P.D. James and Plutarch, Stephen King and Shakespeare, all shelved in proper order. “I’m a retired assistant controller from Pitney Bowes,” said Doug, “and that accountant in me likes things neat and tidy.”

A sign says there is a limit of 10 books per day per family. “I look the other way sometimes,” said Doug. “There’s a woman who comes all the time and collects kids’ books for the center she volunteers for.”

What’s remarkable is that The Greenwich Book Exchange, while being a fine example, is not unusual, but representative of our enormous book wealth. Of the tons of books people won’t take for free, and libraries and thrift shops can’t sell, some are shipped overseas by charitable organizations, while tons and tons more are simply pulped.

Is it wasteful that we print so many books, and have done so for so many decades? Yes, but of all the things we can be wasteful in, this is one of the best. The result is that our ability to enjoy literature and to learn is not limited by our ability to own books. (And I haven’t yet mentioned using libraries, which will be the subject of a future post.) 

Our streets are paved with literary gold. Yet it seems we don’t realize it. Is one of the conditions of living in El Dorado that we must be unaware of it?

Let me know what you think. Do you agree we’re entering the Golden Age of Books? I’d love to hear your reason(s) why or why not.

Comments

[Ivy]

The clearest evidence of this, to me, is over at Amazon.com. They launched their Kindle ebook reader months ago and they still can't catch up with the backlog of orders. The forums are rich with people trying to figure out when theirs might come. I think they're down to a two to three week turnaround time, and at the busiest, they were six weeks behind on orders.

This only represents those avid readers who can afford to throw $400 on a luxury item and who buy and read enough books to make this a worthwhile investment. The main reason most of the forum participants cite in wanting a Kindle is a lack of shelf space in their homes. We're being pushed out by our books.

Sony had the same problem when they launched their eReader. The demand outstripped the supply in mere days and Sony had to struggle to catch up with the orders.

This is a gift unlike any other to those members of the population who have weaker eyesight. The font size is adjustable, so suddenly every book is a large print book, and can be carried around in a 10 oz or less package about the size of a paperback.

We've gotten to a stage where soon, no book will ever need to go out of print and every book will be scant minutes away.

Gold indeed.

[Louis Delair, Jr.]

I am a returning reader who went through a hiatus of literary indulgence due to work timetables and extensive travel. Now that I've retired, I have returned full throttle to reading and 'devour' a book-a-week, at least (I also have dance classes, films and fitness to work in somehow). A Golden Age of Books, you say?!?!? I totally agree because we have the world to consider, not only U.S. readers. Case in point, I have a friend in Europe, for whom English is his third language. Whenever he visits the USA, he brings an empty suitcase JUST FOR Books! He has a location in Bethesda, MD, akin to the Greenwich Book Exchange but much larger, and he purchases paperbacks for .50 and hard bound books for 1.00! He, as I, gives away the books and keeps the circulation going. Apart from reading, I too am interested in writing and have dabbled a bit. Should I ever be fortunate enough to publish, ...there I am, contributing to the 'waste'!!! We retirees need, love and want books! Our toddlers and young folk show their love of books and bedside stories (or classroom stories) with their saucer-wide eyes at the listening to enthusiastic readings! Yes, books are here and growing in popularity and demand every day! Mind boggling, I know, in the face of the electronic media that books have to contend with. That said, however, we only lose those readers for a few of their formative years - they eventually come back to the book-reading fold, in some form or other.

[Allison Simpson]

I have always felt fortunate to be able to retreat to any corner with a book and pass the time. As a child, being sent to my room was no punishment - I just read. My first husband did not read, as such, and was jealous of my books. My second husband, for the last 22 years, is an avid reader. We both have been known to reread nearly anything if we find ourselves in the awful position of being out of books. There is nothing quite as nice as being able to take your book along wherever you go, so you can slip away, even for a moment! Thanks!

[Mark Kaufman]

Books continue to thrive, reading is still popular, and information exchange via the written word continues. As a former teacher, curriculum developer, and Dean I treasure books and reading in whatever form. As a moderate technophile I read on my Palm device as well as with the gentle tactile sensation of a page in hand.

Using an electronic reader has allowed many children with diagnosed learning disabilities to experience the wonder of a novel - broken into visually manageable small sections. This may be used to lead into more traditional bound books without the overwhelming sense of being inundated with words in print.

Books are a treasure to be shared, I applaud the many recycling and trading centers that have sprung up around the world to pass books that we have loved on to a new family, a new home, and a new generation.

[Rob Kresge]

This is a wonderful and hopeful commentary. I represent the Albuquerque chapter of the national organization Sisters in Crime. Our guest speaker in January, author Joe Badal, depressed us all with tales of how difficult it is for new novelists to get published these days. And his statistics were grim. You don't have to publish this comment on your blog, but could I have permission to reprint your column in our bimonthly Nooseletter in three weeks? I think it would help offset the downer that the aspiring authors among us are feeling and inspire readers (the bulk of our members) to feel that they're not alone in the numbers of books we all consume. Thanks for considering this request. Keep up the good work. Rob

[David K.]

I agree with your views and only add another example of book recycling. Some of the airport stores have initiated a program (I think called "Read and Return") which refunds half of the purchase price of books as long as they are returned in 6 mos. I think the books are then resold.

I have used this a lot, often buying just before a flight and then returning it on landing.

Enjoyed the essay. Thanks

[Diana Raabe]

I agree! In a time where vacations are becoming out-of-reach for many - and yet more needed than ever - books provide the best vacation from the stress of life for your money.

[best and brightest]

Mr. Delair,

Could you please tell me where the book exchange is in Bethesda? I live in Bethesda, but am unfamiliar with it.

Thank you.

JD

[Chris Geyer]

Regarding the new eReaders - I like the Opus response best. On receiving a new eReader and settling in with a favorite book, Opus quickly returns to the easy chair, the reading light, and a regular, bound copy of the book. That's me.

I read onscreen all the time. I refuse to print out copies of the articles I need for my research when they are available as .pdf files. But when it comes to a book I read for pleasure, I want the tactile experience of the paper and the binding and the weight, and the absence of the screen and glaring light from same. I appreciate the convenience of having a book to read on a palm size device while traveling, but it still doesn't take me from my books.

I love the book traders and used book stores and the other means by which books recycle to new readers. But I don't know that I'd call it a Golden Age. I think to really have a Golden Age, we - those of use who read and love books - need to work to help eliminate illiteracy across all the levels of our society. Having these books readily available and affordable doesn't help the child (or adult) who can't read them. If we could eliminate that, then we would have a Golden Age, indeed.

[Lynne]

I hope a reply gets through.

Anyway, with Christmas trees I realized how many trees I was killing, and I moved to plastic trees and purchased fewer over the years. I had a tree in my apt., and a tree at my parents’, and a tree in my classroom at school (3 a year for maybe 10 years). I made a new decision the year a girl became allergic to the real tree and had to go home while we cleared it out of the room and made arrangements for a plastic tree. In recent years the tree became smaller and smaller and even nonexistent some years.

I haven’t solved the paper/plastic dilemma, but I have been thinking long and hard about the buy a book or use my new Kindle. I love the Kindle. When we went to the beach last summer, I took so many books and magazines it was hardly a vacation, and then I didn’t look at most. I knew I had to do something about all those books that are all over the house which brings me back to paper or plastic.

For a novel or non-reference I’m purchasing it on my Kindle and even settling for a sample instead of the whole book. For a reference book I’m ordering from Amazon or visiting Barnes and Noble for the purchase. I’m so relieved, and the house is looking a little leaner. I’m purchasing fewer magazines as well. Amazon is still important to me, but I’m actually buying different books from what I used to, and I’m still helping them stay rich.

Now I just ask myself – paper or plastic?

When is Levenger making a lightweight inexpensive carrying-case for my Kindle? I won’t carry a heavy one.

[Peter]

I agree. I buy several books a month, more than I can read. I can't wait for retirement so that I can read the hundreds of books awaiting my attention. Books will always be around. Nothing like the pleasure of holding a book in your hands, savoring the print, the photos, illustrations, and much more.

Keep writing your columns/essays. I enjoy them.

[Ron]

We may, indeed, be headed toward the "Golden Age," but I purvey autographs and manuscripts and still employ a fountain pen. Maybe I am not the best person to opine a view. Hah hah. Enjoyed your commentary. I remember a one-page ad spread in The New York Times back in the mid 1970s. It declared "Only the busy person has time to read." I found that inspiring.

[Chris]

I wouldn't bring my palm pilot into the bathtub or onto the beach, two places where I do a lot of my reading. For me, books are here to stay!

[Cheryl Conway]

Amen! As a lifelong, avid reader, I cannot imagine a world where there are no books. A computer screen just doesn’t cut it. A book allows your imagination to run wild and to transport you to places and situations you might not otherwise experience. So let’s all celebrate books and a Well-Read Life!

[sarahsbooks]

I don't see people turning away from books. Bookshops, perhaps (because most books are just so ridiculously cheap online right now), but not books. I always wonder if the people who talk about the death of the book as we know it (the good old-fashioned codex-style easily-portable endlessly-fascinating book) are actually READERS themselves. Readers of books, lovers of books, versus merely information-retrieval experts, purveyors of "content." Bah.

Long live the book!

[Eadain]

I don't think books are going anywhere. I get headaches reading a computer screen, and no one can convince me that an e-book will replace paper books, at least not in this lifetime. You can't really curl up to your computer screen. There's something magical about crisp pages on a rainy or snowy afternoon.

Besides, we writers are always going to need you! --or is that, us writers.. lolol

[Eadain]

just another thought, on the subject of Kindles and other electronic book devices.. for those out there that think we are conserving resources by employing these products, what is going to happen when the inevitable upgrade occurs? They will be thrown into the vast computer wasteland, computer dump sites. We all know those items don't break down, and have toxic materials that computer scavengers (mainly children) either ingest or absorb through their skin. Computer parts will be bobbing on the ocean waves and washing up on the beaches to kill birds and other creatures who mistake them for food. So I'm not sure we're doing our Earth a favor by doing the electronic upgrade.