[shalym]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I'm torn on how to respond to this.

Three mutually exclusive possibilities are:

-- Most, maybe all, fiction, you are correct about. But not other books. Here are two quite different recent Hachette titles that I think make for a more informed citizentry (even though I've only read the first):

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/tit...9780316219280/

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/tit...9781478983705/

That's your opinion. In my opinion, fiction is more important and plays a larger role in my life than non-fiction. I've actually learned more hard science and history from fiction stories than I have from reading non-fiction books. I do read (and love) biographies and history in general, but most non-fiction books of that type are interchangeable. They really are commodities.

-- No, reading is better than other forms of entertainment. Children who grow up as readers get better jobs, and reading in adulthood exercises the brain and prevents its deterioration:

http://books.google.com/books?id=NlY...0brain&f=false

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117588

I'm not going to argue with this, I am going to say, however, that neither of those studies states that reading non-fiction is more important than reading, say, a romance novel, or manga.

-- You are correct. Big publisher books are like first rate gardening tools. Companies that make good ones should resist Amazon/WalMart pressure to lower their wholesale prices and, inevitably, the quality of their product.

What did you think of tubemonkey's garden weeding tool idea?

It tubemonkey is right, Hachette is right to do what it needs to do to preserve gardening tool quality.

If tubemonkey is wrong, I guess it's more problematic. But I still can't see why you complained, earlier in #80, about Hachette not bargaining in good faith. Hachette doesn't bargain with neighborhood bookstores. Do they bargain with the High Street chains in Britian? Do they bargain with every eBook web site in France? In Poland? In India? Why should Hachette bargain at all?

Hachette doesn't bargain at all with neighborhood bookstores--bookstores buy books at a wholesale rate, and are allowed to sell the books at whatever price they want to sell them at.

Shari