Paul recently blogged about Matt Asay’s post regarding an article in The Atlantic and quoted Asay’s discussion of “returning to reading”…..So, I was really struck by the bookstore sales numbers described in the May 19th issue of Publishers Weekly (p.11).  The headline reads: “Bookstore sales up 5% in quarter” and the article goes on to mention that the bookstore segment is doing far better than the rest of the retail segment of the economy.  Although, bookstores do sell a lot of latte these days, too.

And, speaking of books, the June 2nd issue of Publishers Weekly had an interesting sidebar on “Readership by the Numbers” (p.6).  Eleven percent of the people polled (Random House/Zogby poll) enjoy reading digital books;  forty-three percent went to bookstore for a specific title; and, true enough: seventy-seven percent make additional purchases when looking for a specific title.