No secret, I think, that books are under assault from any number of modern threats. Rich media everywhere; shorter attention spans; lots of noise everywhere. When I went to Japan last week, for 8 days, I took 4 books with me, as I expected to blow through them like usual. Actually, I didn't really read even a single chapter. I mostly watched video on my computer, listened to music, wrote on my blog. My reading has slowed waaaay down the last couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure that it'll pick up again without much trouble, but it's an interesting note -- if someone who values reading as much as I do isn't reading as much, I think books have a tough road ahead. We'll see.