Look out! It's the Death of Reading!!

There have been several articles in recent memory about the death of the book review in national newspapers. Papers are in hot water, with readers opting for online, free versions of their paper, and publishers are trying to maximize every bit of available space they've got. For book readers, the downsizing or disappearance of the book section is a loss, to be sure.

But does it signal the beginning of the slow death of reading? An op-ed contributor at the LA Times thinks so:

The truth is that the book and newspaper businesses share the same dreadful fear: that people will stop reading. And the fear may be well-founded. Across the country, newspaper circulations are down — and this is clearly part of the reason for the cuts to book sections. At the same time, the book business increasingly relies on an aging customer base that may not be refueling itself with enough new readers.

In the past, newspaper executives understood the symbiotic relationship between their product and books. People who read books also read newspapers. From that basic tenet came a philosophy: If you foster books, you foster reading. If you foster reading, you foster newspapers. That loss-leader ends up helping you build and keep your base.

It should be clarified that the panicky op-ed contributor here is author Michael Connelly, he of the "17 mysteries, most of them featuring LAPD Det. Harry Bosch. His next book, "The Overlook," will be out next month."

A few things here. One, newspapers and books aren't the only ones who are interested in ensuring we all keep reading. In fact, I can't think of any significant anti-reading lobby that's making any headway. Proponents of digital media, for instance, understand that the web depends on traditional reading skills. Blogs rely on reading and writing skills, trumping old media delivery systems by one and engaging with the "learning by doing" paradigm. Businesses need literate workers, as does every other industry.

Two, just because book reviews are disappearing from the paper doesn't mean they don't exist elsewhere. It would be a loss if the habit of curling up with the most recent New York Review of Books disappeared completely. But now there are reviews online, and even more reviews than Connelly's newspaper could accommodate as professionals and amateurs alike opine about their favorite new offerings. After all, I'm reading his review online.

Three, Connelly's hyperbole does not do him or newspapers justice. The genie which is digital media is out of the bottle and both authors and newspapers need to adjust -- perhaps dramatically -- to changing habits of information distribution.

p.s. I apologize for my two week hiatus. Life sometimes gets in the way of blogging.