Against Bad Books

Being employed in the book-publishing industry, I am perhaps more likely than others to stumble on such stats as these, reported by R. R. Bowker, the government agency that assigns ISBNs: The U.S. published 175,000 new books in 2003, up 19 percent from the previous year. In 1999, the number was 119,357, which means that in four years, our output of titles increased by about 47%.

That's staggering when you think about it. At this rate (and it shows no signs of letting up), U.S. publishers double their rate of producing new titles every eight years. That kind of growth makes sense when you're talking about a new invention, like MP players or something, but books? Books have been around forever.

Or have they? Certainly the book world of today is very different from the book world of just a few years ago. Amazon.com has been around less than ten years. Barnes & Noble and Borders superstores have been around only since the 90s. Prior to that, if you went to a bookstore, it was likely to be relatively small, and you probably did not have the option of buying a cup of coffee, let alone a tall double skinny cafe latte.

In many ways the change we have witnessed in the book industry is symptomatic of the pervasive cultural transformation wrought by close technological cousins the microchip and the Internet. Publishing is only one of many, many industries that have been swept into the aftermath of this technological revolution. In fact, one could argue that every major sector of the economy has been revolutionized by post-industrial technology.

So what are we to make of this dramatic increase in the number of titles published each year? Well, for one thing, it gives us more variety, and we have more options to choose from. I don't know about you, but I like choices! On the downside, it is just one more example of information overload. Other examples include the increase of channels available on TV, the infinite sea of websites (and blogs), and the balooning number of magazines now available. (A friend and I recently noticed there is a magazine for people who not only hunt but hunt with not only a dog but with pointer dogs!)

The very phrase information overload, so popular these days, implies such a thing as an excess of information. But when? When does the necessary amount of information stop and an excessive amount begin? Perhaps it's when we are no longer able to pick up and take in and respond to each bit of information that is coming at us. I also think the phrase implies particularly to advertising, which seems a ubiquitous intrusion, whether we're on the Web (where it is especially invasive), driving down a highway, watching TV, or listening to the radio. I was recently bamboozled into forking over $10 for membership into a Blockbusters Rewards program when all I came for was $1.99 rental. The ad for the Rewards program came at me so quickly from the clerk across the counter, I couldn't process the information fast enough and so made a snap decision. A dumb move on my part, I admit, but it serves to illustrate the negative effects information overload can have.

I'm not terribly afraid I'll spend too much money in a snap decision to purchase a book, but isn't it inevitable that if publishers are doubling their rate of production every eight years, the number of books that are not worth reading will increase? When the printing press was invented, only one book was being published. That book was the Bible. And in many ways, as the saying goes, it's all been downhill from there.

I guess my point is that when we go to the store and stare at all the many spines and covers that beckon for our dollars, we'll have to be smart about what we decide to pick up and take home. If we aren't, odds are we'll buy one of the bad ones.