Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes
I don't profess that I know any better than anyone else. One of my specific examples is a book from Belize which as a country doesn't publish many books in English. It's a story of the everyday life in Belize and would for me be valuable to my understanding of the area.
I think your point on fiction is exactly the point that disturbed me one day when a friend of mine responded "oh just some fiction" when I asked what he was reading. It's that response that it's just fiction and unimportant that makes me cringe. Good fiction is worthwhile and tells us about the human condition. I read a variety of stuff, including a lot of worthless fiction, but I hate when things are unavailable. We are at a point in our technological advancement that things shouldn't have to unavailable. As a society we treat much of our mid-century art and architecture with contempt and deem it as unimportant, preserving what is moldy and heralding what is new while leaving the rest to be bulldozed into oblivion. We lose our history. I see this in the world around us. A cultural study of a place includes its art its customs its music its literature its everything. We will lose how culture evolves by losing the books from certain eras.
I don't believe we should accept losing access anymore, but I see the accessibility of some things being reduced drastically.
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As I have said I would like all books to be available in ebook form. I think our society treats most art as at best boring if it doesn't spruce up our living room walls. Just an opinion, mind you.
We may lose one or more authors perspectives on how culture evolved, but I am pretty sure that there is still enough available mid 19th century literature available to give an idea of the times. And most of the unavailable books will become available in time.
I have read quite a few books where I have (accidentally perhaps) learned something interesting, but few if any where I feel I have learned something unique that I could not have learned elsewhere if I made an effort.
And even though I feel an author/publisher etc. has a right to publish or not, I would be spitting bullets if I knew there were 12 or so Rex Stout (or by at least 50 other authors) novels out there unpublished in any form that I could not read. Not that I recall learning anything from Rex Stout novels, although I find his life a tad inspiring, but I sure do like them
and if there were a few that I couldn't read no matter what I would be very unhappy.
Helen