Thursday, April 8, 2010

Prosperity and its risk to culture

On Anna Salai, a central artery that runs through this city, there is a store called the American Book Center. The owner, V. Krishnan, is 70 years old. He has been selling books since he was 8 — first as a hawker in the former Burmese capital, Rangoon, where his father worked as a goldsmith, and then in Chennai, where he moved in the 1960s and opened two stores.

On a cloudy Saturday morning, Mr. Krishnan talked about the evolution of the book business over the last few decades. In the ’60s, he said, most of his buyers were older and male. Over the last 10 years, he has noticed more women, and more young people.

This younger population has different interests. In the old days, he sold mostly novels — Pearl S. Buck, Daphne DuMaurier and Agatha Christie were especially popular. Now, young people do not read so many novels. They buy computer books, and books about business.

Full report here New York Times

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