What Fresh?
Books, articles, essays, good reading is food for the brain. Fresh from the oven is not only an update of what authors are writing about also a thermometer or an anemometer or wind vane of the latest cultural trends in the social psychology of the region where I live.
Years ago, when George W. Bush started its presidency, I noticed in the non-fiction tables at Barnes & Noble the change in the cultural discourse of the intellectuality. All of the sudden the tables where filled with conservative titles and authors criticizing the liberal spectrum and its representative figures and theories. That made me suspect that the social-psychological change that had taken place in American society was not only being expressed by voting for the Republican Party and by the pro Iraq war and patriotic rhetoric but also by the current trend of ideas, concepts, theories and attacks on the intellectual opposition.
I realized that the books that are shown at the front tables of the bookstore were not only the ones that there were written but also the ones that people wanted to read. By going to Barnes & Noble and looking to what was for sale in the main spots I would have an idea of what was going on in the social mind of the U.S.
Unfortunately I don't have the means to look at what is being shown in each front table of at least one B&N in each state (Borders would have given a different picture but Borders is gone). I can only afford to look at my local bookstore in East 79th street and perhaps also to the one in Union Square, both in NYC (I will appreciate if you post in the comments sections what did you see at your local bookstore). But hey, something is better than nothing and I hope that my little reporting can generate an indication of in which direction the wind of ideas is flowing on in this part of the world.
Sure the are another way to this (although with the fun of going to the bookstore): You can check the New York Times best sellers list. Another surprise of this week: Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln is in the 3rd place of the combined print and e-books non-fiction section and in the 2nd place of the hard cover non-fiction list, second only to Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs; While Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe's Being George Washington is in the 8th place after being in the 5th place at the beginning of January.
If you want to check the current trends on the Internet you may help yourself by using Buzzfeed and Redditt ;the last one featuring today's Al Gore's rant ( remember him?) this time against SOPA. For checking Twitter trends use Radiant 6, which allows you to a have live stream of twitter feeds while filtering topics, for a fee.
Years ago, when George W. Bush started its presidency, I noticed in the non-fiction tables at Barnes & Noble the change in the cultural discourse of the intellectuality. All of the sudden the tables where filled with conservative titles and authors criticizing the liberal spectrum and its representative figures and theories. That made me suspect that the social-psychological change that had taken place in American society was not only being expressed by voting for the Republican Party and by the pro Iraq war and patriotic rhetoric but also by the current trend of ideas, concepts, theories and attacks on the intellectual opposition.
I realized that the books that are shown at the front tables of the bookstore were not only the ones that there were written but also the ones that people wanted to read. By going to Barnes & Noble and looking to what was for sale in the main spots I would have an idea of what was going on in the social mind of the U.S.
Unfortunately I don't have the means to look at what is being shown in each front table of at least one B&N in each state (Borders would have given a different picture but Borders is gone). I can only afford to look at my local bookstore in East 79th street and perhaps also to the one in Union Square, both in NYC (I will appreciate if you post in the comments sections what did you see at your local bookstore). But hey, something is better than nothing and I hope that my little reporting can generate an indication of in which direction the wind of ideas is flowing on in this part of the world.
Sure the are another way to this (although with the fun of going to the bookstore): You can check the New York Times best sellers list. Another surprise of this week: Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln is in the 3rd place of the combined print and e-books non-fiction section and in the 2nd place of the hard cover non-fiction list, second only to Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs; While Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe's Being George Washington is in the 8th place after being in the 5th place at the beginning of January.
If you want to check the current trends on the Internet you may help yourself by using Buzzfeed and Redditt ;the last one featuring today's Al Gore's rant ( remember him?) this time against SOPA. For checking Twitter trends use Radiant 6, which allows you to a have live stream of twitter feeds while filtering topics, for a fee.
posted by Renelio @ Friday, January 06, 2012
0 Comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home