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Too many books, not enough profits. That is the lament of many publishers these days. Plus, there's the fear and loathing engendered by e-books. So, what is the state of the book industry and what can we expect in the coming years? Brooke takes a look at the present and future of books.
Earlier this month marked the first Independent Bookstore Week in New York City. OTM's James Hawver went to the kick-off party and asked agents, publicists and bookstore owners about their greatest hopes (and fears) about the future.
In the future, reading and writing will be a social activity, the hierarchy between authors and readers will disappear, readers will help write a book while they're reading it. Skeptical? You're not the first. Bob Stein of The Institute for the Future of the Book is used to skepticism, but he's seen the future and he's here to talk about it.
Do you love reading or do you love books? To answer this question for herself, City University of New York dean Ann Kirschner set out to read the Charles Dickens classic Little Dorrit four ways – as a paperback, on her Kindle, on her iPhone and as an audio book. We spoke with her about it earlier this year.
The thingness of books is a sensual experience of sight, smell and feel. That’s why people obsess over old books, and why they steal them. In The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Allison Hoover Bartlett profiles John Gilkey, a man for whom books were building blocks for a whole new identity.
Forty years ago, authors like Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines turned their lives as pimps, hustlers and drug addicts into novels and pioneered a new genre of African-American literature. Now known as “urban fiction,” the works, often violent and profane, have exploded in popularity with scores of new authors. But with renewed popularity comes renewed criticism. OTM producer Mike Vuolo has the story.
Vasily Grossman covered the Eastern Front of WWII for the Soviet Union and fictionalized his reporting as the novel “Life and Fate.” Curzio Malaparte covered the Eastern Front for the Axis Powers and fictionalized his reporting as the novel “Kaputt.” Veteran correspondent Chris Hedges talks about the two books and why he thinks fiction is the better way to capture the full scope of war.
Brooke reads an excerpt from a piece that appeared in The New York Times in 1902.
Highlights from Past Shows
The President returned from his first trip to China on Thursday. The Atlantic’s James Fallows talks about the trip, and the mostly negative U.S. press coverage it received.
Blue M&M's may cure paralysis! That’s just one claim made recently in a health segment on network TV. For more than three years, HealthNewsReview.org editor Gary Schwitzer has been methodically reviewing TV health news claims for accuracy and responsibility. But no more; he’s found the vast majority of TV consumer health reports sickening.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
