So was I ungenerous yesterday to turn a haughty nose up in the Harvard Coop? Yes, it's a place where generations have trod ... to get their readings, begin their learnings, march down the path of academia, knowledge, thinking.
I felt first a blip of surprise that comes when an odd notion passes before your mind. Then with further reflection (and hardening confirmation) came a light grip of disdain coupled with fleeting queasy nausea.
Why, I asked myself, were there so many damn books about dogs and cats on the display tables of the Harvard Coop? I mean, where the hell have we come to?
The questions flowed like water: Is this a fad? Is it like a virus that has swept through the book publishing world? Is Cambridge, MA one of those target audiences, too smart to read Proust, but not too overburdened to read about Fluffy? I mean really!
It's an odd coalition when a book publisher sees a market, a bookstore sees a customer, a book reader sees a non-threatening topic in which to while away some time, and book writers -- all serious and committed -- pump this stuff out. It is where economics meets Zeitgeist, and it all aligns to produce this.
Herewith is my evidence. You be the judge!
