That Yellowish Muck
By Garrison Keillor YOU MUST READ THIS

Published:in The International Herald Tribune, July 1, 2009

I walked the length of the westbound Lake Shore Limited as it left Albany last Sunday, six crowded coaches, and counted three Twitterers and a couple of phone texters, six laptoppers (two of whom were watching movies), four video gamers, and 27 people reading books. Books made of paper! Turning the pages with their fingers one by one, reading the lines left to right, just as people have done for hundreds of years. Ain’t that something?
I didn’t lean down for a close look at the books they were reading — I was not brought up to do that — so perhaps bodices were being ripped and stalkers were stalking and meteorites were heading straight for earth, but no matter. Books were being read!
Along with live theater, monogamy and the bald eagle, the paper book has been despaired over and its demise freely predicted, and yet, among people heading west, it seems to be the diversion of choice. So Dickens and Jane Austen are not dead yet.
And the bald eagle is coming back, along with the gray wolf and the Yellowstone grizzly — though less attractive endangered species such as the glassy-eyed smelt are still in doubt — and theater seems as alluring as ever, judging by the number of young New York waiters with large personalities. And as for monogamy, it’s there, waiting to be rediscovered.
Read the full delightful and entertaining piece at The New York Times.