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Non-fiction is not so clear cut, as certain area are in continual flux, requiring new books. But even there, there are large swatches of information that don't require continual rewriting. I learned comparative vertebrate anatomy from a book first published in 1942. It's still perfectly valid and usable, if you need to learn vertebrate anatomy. Same for learning lots of mathematics. Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, and lots of other branches haven't changed in a hundred years. Of course, Physics, Cosmology, Molecular Biology, and lots of other branches change every 5 minutes. They always need new books. Or is your idea of non-fiction novel-length People Magazine books?
Stonetools, the world is leaving you behind. In the world today, as opposed to even three years ago, brick-and-mortar bookstores are steadily going broke, and the largest bookseller in the US (Amazon) sell more e-books than it does print book, (they inverted about a year ago). How many people do you see with iphones? Are they all "technologists"? They can, (and more and more do) read books on their iPhone in their spare time. (Or android phones). The world has changed, and it isn't going back.
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RSE, thanks for replying. I do think the abundance theme tends to be overstated. Genre fiction, yes, but there is a lot more to books than romance, mystery and SF. The non-fiction piece is really crucial, at least for me. There's not only science writing, but current affairs, travel writing, history, biography-the list goes on. Frankly, the public can do without the latest SF or romance potboiler, but an educated and effective citizenry must have knowledge of the past and current affairs. There has got to be a way to make non-fiction pay in an e-book world. Luckily, there does seem to be a path for long form journalism in the form of "the single" - the short ebook.
I agree that the era of B&M stores is passing and that we are moving from print to electronic in the area of narrative text. We aren't there yet and won't be for quite some time. In the area of illustrated books, we may not move to electronic for an even longer time.
All this means is that its not all abundance, unicorns and rainbows out there. Its a time of troubles for the book industry. I'll happily embrace the e-book future but I want some vital categories of books to come into that future with me.