We are in a golden era of literacy.

Bartholomew · Jan 3, 2012

More books are being printed in our era than ever; more people with ideas worth expressing are able to express them. On top of this, the internet has made it easier to access and share writing than ever before. Literacy rates for the last two or three decades are significantly higher than in eras prior, and even language barriers are crumbling; if a text exists in a language you can't read, and you want to read it, the internet is bubbling over with programs, videos, and books that exist expressly to make people multilingual.

There are so many books worth my time that my reading list has become a part of my bucket list; barring a breakthrough in medical science, I will die before I have read every book that has been suggested to me. And even if I only manage to read half of them, I'll have tasted the viewpoints of more than 10,000 individuals.

The total number of books in the world towers somewhere over the 100,000,000 (100 million!) mark, and if you can read this post, you realistically have access to most of them. You will never be without something to read.

Be happy, and may the new year blow your mind.

The Lonely One · Jan 3, 2012

Glad to have a positive spin on contemporary writing for once.

Last I heard we were destroying the foundations of literature, brick-by-brick.

Nice thread!

J. Koyanagi · Jan 3, 2012

Your post made my optimistic heart very happy. Thank you for this.

kuwisdelu · Jan 3, 2012

But I thought all good literature was dead?

Oh well.

I'll just have to kill it again! *keeps writing*

HarryHoskins · Jan 3, 2012

Bartholomew said:
There are so many books worth my time that my reading list has become a part of my bucket list; barring a breakthrough in medical science, I will die before I have read every book that has been suggested to me.

I heard they, you know, like made an App that plugs into your gravestone and can talk every book ever written within earshot of your decomposing corpse for the rest of time.

My mother's, sister's, Bridge partner's landlord said they were marketing it as a proof of eternal hell or heaven depending on what parameters you set for it.

He didn't say if it's compatible with cremations.

scarletpeaches · Jan 3, 2012

Every so often I read a book that, on finishing, makes me sigh and say, "I wish I'd written that."

Filigree · Jan 3, 2012

I treasure such moments, just as I love seeing a great piece of art or craft.
It's a joyous kick in the pants.

thothguard51 · Jan 3, 2012

Not to be a party pooper, but not all books should be published...

scarletpeaches · Jan 3, 2012

Maybe they shouldn't, but the point of the thread is to celebrate the gems which are published, and deservedly so.

Hark at me being all optimistic.

mccardey · Jan 3, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
Every so often I read a book that, on finishing, makes me sigh and say, "I wish I'd written that."

"Foal's Bread" by Gillian Mears - a glorious piece of work...

buz · Jan 3, 2012

Not to be a party pooper, but not all books should be published...

Can't have the good without the bad.

Stop resisting the rhythm...because it is going to get you.

2011's dreamer · Jan 3, 2012

buzhidao said:
the rhythm...because it is going to get you.

Tonight.

O eh, o eh, o eh, o eh
O eh, oo aah, o eh, oo aah

In another news, I heard Rhythm is a dancer, too.

jjdebenedictis · Jan 3, 2012

NO! No, don't turn this wonderful, optimistic thread into an earworm!

**runs away screaming**

shaldna · Jan 4, 2012

And I thought we were degrading literature?

*ducks*

Phaeal · Jan 4, 2012

thothguard51 said:
Not to be a party pooper, but not all books should be published...

Meh. Publish 'em all and let ME sort 'em out.

leahzero · Jan 4, 2012

This thread (at least most of it) makes me happy in the pants.

Bartholomew · Jan 4, 2012

As long as the pantimus majorus area is happy, so am I.

Even the books that don't "deserve" publication (despite the mind-numbing effort that goes into writing a book and finding a publication venue--even with zero editing and Lulu, this is a lot of work) can be infinitely instructive about what modern audiences don't want to read, and a good record of bad ideas, confusing writing, or cliched ideas.

There was an era where a bad book was one of only two or three choices, and something to read, regardless of how bad it was. (And in all likelihood, you would have already read them before.)

Yes, there are bad and even terrible books out there; oceans need sharks and coral both.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 4, 2012

thothguard51 said:
Not to be a party pooper, but not all books should be published...

Not all these published books are accessible to the masses either. Not everyone has, or can even afford, a computer or eReader. Or the Internet. So really, since paper publishing is declining, less writing is available to the poor or the computer illiterate.

Bartholomew · Jan 4, 2012

Shadow_Ferret said:
Not all these published books are accessible to the masses either. Not everyone has, or can even afford, a computer or eReader. Or the Internet. So really, since paper publishing is declining, less writing is available to the poor or the computer illiterate.

Define paper publishing.

Then prove that it's in declension.

KellyAssauer · Jan 4, 2012

Bartholomew said:
Define paper publishing.

Then prove that it's in declension.

You know what it is...

it's Literature. :ROFL:

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 4, 2012

Um. Paper. A product of trees. The wood is pulped and made into paper upon which the book is then printed. And I have no proof, only observation. Borders is gone. Waldens is gone. B dalton is gone. Many of our local independents are gone. Department stores no longer carry books.

To me the golden age of publishing was in the 30s and 40s when thousands of cheaply made magazines were on sale every month priced so nearly everyone could afford them, accessible to anyone who could get to the grocery store, drug store, or corner news stand.

The Lonely One · Jan 4, 2012

Do you guys think online zines are the Little Magazines of our days? Certainly they don't have the same power of movement, but is it a similar philosophy?

Deleted member 42 · Jan 4, 2012

The Lonely One said:
Do you guys think online zines are the Little Magazines of our days? Certainly they don't have the same power of movement, but is it a similar philosophy?

I think blogs are like the pamphlets of the seventeenth - early nineteenth centuries.

I think Web zines are like the printed "literary reviews" or "little magazines." Certainly in the case of SF/F, and increasing number of the major award-winning short stories and novellas were published online first.

KellyAssauer · Jan 4, 2012

The Lonely One said:
Do you guys think online zines are the Little Magazines of our days?

I've 'seen' them but I've never read a complete one, nor have I ever read a whole blog. Each of these 'appears' to me to be about as meaningful as graffiti: One person's random scrawls in the dark...

Makai_Lightning · Jan 4, 2012

Shadow_Ferret said:
Um. Paper. A product of trees. The wood is pulped and made into paper upon which the book is then printed. And I have no proof, only observation. Borders is gone. Waldens is gone. B dalton is gone. Many of our local independents are gone. Department stores no longer carry books.

To me the golden age of publishing was in the 30s and 40s when thousands of cheaply made magazines were on sale every month priced so nearly everyone could afford them, accessible to anyone who could get to the grocery store, drug store, or corner news stand.

I've been missing Borders with all my heart. <\3 Used to be my favorite place.

But I will say I continue to support my hard copies of my books, and as long as libraries exist, and they carry books/the Internet, anyone can still read stuff that's being published. It's just less likely you'll own a physical copy of it.

We are in a golden era of literacy.

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