EIGHTH HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
Book Business

 

Due electronically by 5 PM, November 19. Send to <21H.418-students>:

 

1) Epstein contends that for the last half-century, the book industry had "deviated from its true nature by assuming...the posture of a conventional business." (p. 4) What does he mean by this remark? Do you agree?

2) What, according to Epstein, will be the effects of digital technology on the book business? Do you agree with this prognosis?

3) In what ways does the decentralized "cottage industry" that Epstein envisions as the future of publishing resemble the first two centuries of publishing after the invention of the printing press? In what ways does it differ?