I wasn't trying to say they were outmoded due to television, just that the author had more time to get to the actual story back then because he/she had to set the scene in depth compared to a book written in the present day. Photography was very expensive back when it 1st came out and it's likely that few could afford a book of photos back then. They did have the stereoscope which used two pictures to create a sense of depth (a precursor to the viewmaster) but I wager even that was beyond the financial limits of some. Birth and death records were kept in the family Bible back then because getting round was no doubt difficult and a large expense too. We live in a lot faster paced world than people did in the 19th century. I think a lot of the doom and gloom of the publishers is a bugaboo as well as bad judgment on their parts. People don't like having to change how they do business but change happens anyway.
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Originally Posted by Andrew H.
Oh, I like them, too; I was thinking of scenes where the characters themselves seem to spend all day reading.
And of course you may have noticed that you are not typical. (I hope I'm not the first one to break this to you). 
By this logic, why read at all when we can just watch TV or read books? There were pictures (photos even) of the Sistene chapel at that time, for example.
I agree that some people don't have the patience for longer form reading, including these kinds of descriptions. But I strongly disagree that they are now superfluous because we have television. |