A Kindle Revolution
Michael Lewis’ latest book “The Big Short” was released on Tuesday. As a Lewis fan, I was looking forward to getting the book. But not the big, heavy, expensive hardback version. I wanted to download the book to my Kindle.But alas, no Kindle version was available. And consumers are getting testy–the book now has 37 one-star reviews, most of which are from Kindle owners who want an e-book version.
For a long time, publishers have followed the formula of releasing a more expensive, hardback version of a book before finally releasing a paperback version. Readers have accepted this as the way things are and either sucked up the cost of the hardback or patiently waited for the paperback version.
Debating Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch’s new book The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has been getting a lot of attention lately. This morning, she and I debate the book over at The New Republic. Preview: I don’t like it very much. See earlier entries in the discussion from Ben Wildavsky and Richard Rothstein here.