Who said physical books are on their way out? This was the scene on the Hammersmith and City line on Wednesday.
I was reading Bill Emmott’s [amazon_link id=”0300186304″ target=”_blank” ]Good Italy, Bad Italy[/amazon_link]. My neighbour was reading [amazon_link id=”1903436338″ target=”_blank” ]King Richard II[/amazon_link], no doubt having just seen the superlative version shown in The Hollow Crown on BBC2 last week. Across the way, inevitably, a young man had a [amazon_link id=”B004GJXQ20″ target=”_blank” ]George Martin[/amazon_link] doorstop (although, as someone pointed out on Twitter, Shakespeare’s history plays are the original Game of Thrones). There was someone with a beaten up old copy of Nick Hornby’s [amazon_link id=”0140293469″ target=”_blank” ]High Fidelity[/amazon_link], and a serious looking chap with the paperback of [amazon_link id=”0141033576″ target=”_blank” ]Thinking, Fast and Slow[/amazon_link] by Daniel Kahneman.
[amazon_image id=”0300186304″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future[/amazon_image]
There were, of course, a few Kindles to be seen. I now always assume that their owners are reading Fifty Shades of Grey.
Well, I suppose it’s a step up. When I first got my Kindle I was sitting in the common room quietly reading it and two ladies I knew to be librarians were commenting to themselves that they had heard they were mainly for reading Mills and Boon.
Needless to say I haven’t read the 50 Shades book, but my impression is that it’s a step down from Mills & Boon?
Economists as hyper observant detectives? I could see from his book on BRICs and the Next11, he could possibly be at the BoE soon? However, nothing to report (no kindles in sight) from the 5pm Manchester to Bolton flying shed.