'Step on to any busy, plane or train. A majority will be engrossed in the written word, in some form.' Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman's famous saying – "nobody knows anything" – might now equally be applied to the world of books. Every week brings yet more confusing news from the digital frontline.
From America, it's reported that screens are now so ubiquitous that handwriting is dead. In Britain, bookselling is said to be on the rocks, with alternative media all-conquering. No question: Penguin and Random House merged, defensively, to combat the threat of Amazon. No one yet knows the outcome of that manoeuvre.
There is, however, one certainty that book lovers can feel good about. Despite the prophets of doom, this is a golden age of reading in all media: from iPhones and iPads to Kindles and Nooks, to enhanced hardbacks and collectors' editions. Consumption of the printed word is at an all-time high
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From America, it's reported that screens are now so ubiquitous that handwriting is dead. In Britain, bookselling is said to be on the rocks, with alternative media all-conquering. No question: Penguin and Random House merged, defensively, to combat the threat of Amazon. No one yet knows the outcome of that manoeuvre.
There is, however, one certainty that book lovers can feel good about. Despite the prophets of doom, this is a golden age of reading in all media: from iPhones and iPads to Kindles and Nooks, to enhanced hardbacks and collectors' editions. Consumption of the printed word is at an all-time high
More
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