{"product_id":"book-d252","title":"What We Talk About When We Talk About Books","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eReports of the death of reading are greatly exaggerated\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eDo you worry that you've lost patience for anything longer than a tweet? If so, you're not alone. Digital-age pundits warn that as our appetite for books dwindles, so too do the virtues in which printed, bound objects once trained us: the willpower to focus on a sustained argument, the curiosity to look beyond the day's news, the willingness to be alone.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe shelves of the world's great libraries, though, tell a more complicated story. Examining the wear and tear on the books that they contain, English professor Leah Price finds scant evidence that a golden age of reading ever existed. From the dawn of mass literacy to the invention of the paperback, most readers already skimmed and multitasked. Print-era doctors even forbade the very same silent absorption now recommended as a cure for electronic addictions.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe evidence that books are dying proves even scarcer. In encounters with librarians, booksellers and activists who are reinventing old ways of reading, Price offers fresh hope to bibliophiles and literature lovers alike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award, 2020\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49349085430064,"sku":"BDd252","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49349085462832,"sku":"ZEd252","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/d252-cover.jpg?v=1762367388","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-d252","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}