So Many Books!: Summary and book reviews of So Many Books! by Gabriel Zaid, plus links to an excerpt from So Many Books! and a biography of Gabriel Zaid.
So Many Books! Reading and Publishing in an age of abundance
by Gabriel Zaid
Paperback: Sep 2003,
160 pages.
In So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid offers his thoughts and observations on the literary condition: a highly original analysis of the predicament that readers, authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and teachers find themselves in today--when there are simply more books than any of us can contemplate. In this brief collection of essays, Zaid combines the business savvy of a management consultant, the meditations of a poet, and the sense of humor of an unrepentant reader.
BOOK REVIEWS
BookBrowse
This is a gem of a book - an absolute must read for anyone in the
publishing industry, all book lovers and most importantly, for anyone who
aspires to be a writer; and considering that according to a 2000 survey, 81%
of Americans feel they should write a book, and 6 million have written
manuscripts, that makes for a very broad potential readership - which is
ironic considering that one of Zaid's main themes is to argue that the fact
that the average book sells copies in the low thousands is a cause for
celebration, not dismay!
So Many Books is packed with lots of useful statistics about books
(not boring tables of data but those wonderful nuggets of information that are
so useful to store away for use in conversations to come!), but that's not the
key reason to read it. The real reason is to share Zaid's enlightening
and enthusiastic perspective of the world of books - all the way from Socrates (who
favored conversation over books) to the current day.
Media Reviews
Publishers Weekly
...an appealing, meditative collection of thoughts and observations on the
book industry and the state of literature in the early 21st century.
Book lovers of all stripes will enjoy this light piece of cultural
criticism.
Booklist, Donna Seaman
Lively, cosmopolitan, and piquant, Zaid's treatise will engage
every serious reader.
The New York Times Book Review, Margo Jefferson
One of the pleasures of So Many Books is that its
content and form are perfectly synchronized. Zaid makes his points in a vivid,
concise way; his text is a compactly designed 144 pages. Each chapter could be a
separate essay, but there is a clear overview; So Many Books is a whole with
an air of improvisation. Zaid writes, 'What matters is how we feel, how we see,
what we do after reading; whether the street and the clouds and the existence of
others mean anything to us; whether reading makes us, physically, more alive.'
The South Coast Beacon, Lauren Roberts
So Many Books (Paul Dry Books) is a small volume with large ideas.
Author Gabriel Zaid, well known throughout the Spanish-speaking world, has now,
with this translation, been brought to the attention of the English-speaking
one. And how fortunate we are to have this original mind sharing its distinctive
observations in a compilation of superb essays that explore the relationships
among reading, writing and publishing and the outcomes of those relationships
for readers.
The Hartford Courant, Carole Goldberg
His
short and thoughtful book points out, among many other things, that complaints
about overproduction have been going on since Ecclesiastes 1212, which reads in
part ... of making many books there is no end; and much study is a
weariness of the flesh.
The New Yorker, Leo Carey
Zaid traces the preoccupation with reading back through Dr. Johnson,
Seneca, and even the Bible (Of making many books there is no end). He
emerges as a playful celebrant of literary proliferation, noting that there is
a new book published every thirty seconds, and optimistically points out that
publishers who moan about low sales see as a failure what is actually a
blessing The book business, unlike newspapers, films, or television, is
viable on a small scale. Zaid, who claims to own more than ten thousand
books, says he has sometimes thought that a chastity glove for authors who
can’t contain themselves would be a good idea. Nonetheless, he cheerfully
opines that the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread
books without losing their composure or their desire for more.
Anniston Star, Bruce Lowry
Gabriel Zaid concludes that it's not so bad, that the success of
Amazon.com, for instance, which he calls concentration bolstered by
diversity, is proof that there is still room in the industry for all, the
small, obscure titles as well as for the blockbuster best-sellers you purchase
at Wal-Mart. He also argues convincingly that the regular print-and-bound format
is in no immediate danger from electronic assault.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Frank Wilson
The title of this book is the daily lament of every book-review editor
on the planet. Naturally, much of what Mexican poet and essayist Gabriel Zaid
has to say in this often witty and always elegantly turned meditation about the
ever-rising tide of books - one is published every 30 seconds - will have those
same editors shouting hosannas as they read. But some of it will only add to
their dismay.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, Chris Watson
Author Gabriel Zaid makes a rather shocking statement in his book,
So Many Books Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance (Paul
Dry Books). He claims that universities have taught students to be more
interested in writing books than in reading them and have taught them that books
are to be analyzed, not enjoyed. So when the educated want to relax, they read
junk not literature - which accounts for a lot of those books on bestseller
lists. Zaid writes, The great barrier to the free circulation of books is
the mass of privileged citizens who have college degrees but never learned to
read properly. Fighting words, sure, but will you argue with them? I
won't.
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI), James A. Cox
An information-packed resource concerning the difficulties of publishing
books and getting noticed. Simply put, in today's age there are so many books
out there because everyone has a story to tell, few have much time to read.
Witty, touching, and insightful into the whys, wherefores, and coping strategies
for dealing with this modern-day publishing predicament, So Many Books should be
required reading for anyone who aspires to become a published author -- or to
publish the work of others.
Paul Berman - author of Terror and Liberalism
Gabriel Zaid is a marvelously elegant and playful writer--a cosmopolitan critic
with sound judgment and a light touch.
Enrique Krauze - author of Mexico Biography of Power and editor of
A truly original book about books. Destined to be a classic!
Leon Wieseltier - literary editor of the New Republic
Genuinely exhilarating. . . . wise and . . . delivered with extraordinary
lucidity and charm. May So Many Books fall into so many hands.
Lynne Sharon Schwartz - author of Ruined by Reading A Life in Books
Delectable and useful . . . make[s] essential and heartening reading for
anyone who cares about the future of books.
War, natural disaster, reckless gods and the recognition of impermanence in the world are just some of the threads that AS Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, this is a landmark.
A beguiling, imaginative, inspiring story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, exploring how we use storytelling to survive and shape our own truths.
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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI), James A. Cox
Paul Berman - author of Terror and Liberalism
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