Never Mind the Web: Here Comes the Book

Citation

MacRitchie, J. (2009), "Never Mind the Web: Here Comes the Book", The Electronic Library, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 885-886. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470910998669

The author, a lecturer at the University of Ljubljana, examines the role of the book in society from the time of Gutenberg, and asks whether the printed world is about to be engulfed by the digital world. The conclusion is not as clear‐cut as the title of his book might suggest. Kovac˘ uses Robert Darnton's theory of the “communication circuit of the book” as a sort of philosophical underpinning. In this theory, every printed book undergoes a similar life cycle, from author to publisher to printer to distributor to bookseller to reader, and historians of the book should study each of these phases in relation to the surrounding society. The theory is of help in later chapters when Kovac˘ examines the failure of early e‐book devices; but it is also of value in his thought‐provoking discussion of the seismic effects of the invention of printing. Gutenberg's subversive invention fomented immense cultural and social changes, not least the promotion of religious “heresies”. Kovac˘ summarises effectively the intellectual development made possible by printing, and, in a useful comparison, shows how digital technology is causing a similar contemporary rupture both to the established printing industry, and to the world at large. He deplores the lack of original research being carried out by academia on the contemporary book industry. “Contemporary publishing studies” lack key data, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about, for example, reading trends or changes in the modern book industry. His chapters on the contemporary book industry in Europe note that little is known about the demography of book purchasers. To determine the role of the book in a particular society he factors in data such as level of education of population, educational systems, impact of other media, and there seems to be a tentative conclusion that Northern Europeans are bigger readers (and therefore, can one conclude, cleverer?) than Southern Europeans. One factor not considered by Kovac˘ is the climate – all those long Scandinavian nights! We need research to be performed on the relationship between library loans, book sales and national economic performance, as there does seem to be a correlation between countries ranked as competitive and those with most book readers. Interestingly, heavy internet users are also regular book readers. Kovac˘ considers whether the book market has become as homogenised as is claimed. An examination of the top‐ten bestseller lists in various European countries appears to support his contention that Europe, at least, has to a large degree resisted the globalisation of American publishers. Although a publishing phenomenon will still sell everywhere, there is still ample cultural diversity, the so‐called “long tail”. (24 of the 100 best‐selling authors' names are miss‐spelled; there are several other editing bloopers.) But the ways we read are changing. Audiences have less time for characters and plot, newspapers are losing readers to online sources, and e‐books wait in the wings. Kovac˘ notes that a major, even subversive, point in favour of the printed word is its fixity. It does not have the spooky fluid nature of electronic text. He concludes “1f there were no printed book, the internet civilization would simply have to invent it”. At least for those rare occasions on which it wished to say something serious.” The asperity may be undeserved – by now there are many online sources of authoritative information – but at least we have it in printed form.