Zaid is a Mexican author
whom I probably should know more about, but don’t. His book on books was
written as a defense and response against the cry of the bewildered, against
the chicken littles who in 2003 (and even still today) see the imminent death
of books and of measured, informed reading. He proceeds, Borges-like, into an
abstract recitation of facts and figures that show just how defenseless we are
against the massive mountains of books that are published every day, and that
have already been published. In other words, there is more quality literature
and nonfiction available to read than any sentient human being could conquer,
even in of hundreds of lifetimes. Zaid defends those of us who have to
delicately carve out time to read books in an age in which “leisure time” is often
anything but, particularly when parenting; or when engaged in all-consuming employment;
or when stacked against many other compelling entertainment and leisure
activities - and so on. That many of us still read books at all (to say nothing
of the fact that publishing is growing, not shrinking) is, to Zaid, a true measure
of their nearly infinite staying power.
Many of his insights are
pithy, and are delivered accordingly, but the net result is a nice
state-of-the-industry and a philosophical inquiry into the psyche of the reader.
The fact that it’s 11 years old now doesn’t really figure so much, except for
the salient fact that his observations are all pre-Kindle, pre-tablet, and
therefore there are at least 30 pages or so of missed exploration that I’d have
enjoyed seeing him weigh in on. It’s a nice companion to the similarly-constructed
(and even better) mini-tome “The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction”by Alan Jacobs. Read ‘em both!
