ningerbil (ningerbil) wrote in 50bookchallenge,
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ningerbil
50bookchallenge

Book 25- The Vanishing Newspaper, by Philip Meyer

25. The Vanishing Newspaper, by Philip Meyer. I wasn't sure I was going to finish this one. It's not the book per se. It's well-written, with a lot of good information and takeaways despite its age. But that's the big problem: it was published in 2004, which means that the information itself was most likely written at least 13 years ago. A lot of things have happened since then, rendering large parts of this book moot. The whole third chapter about advertisers can easily be skipped or skimmed. As I said, there are some interesting statistics (although almost certainly dated) and information, but it's fascinating in a way that looking into a time capsule and looking at predictions of the future holds one's interest. I am curious whether the author has come back to this book, or would consider doing so, and doing an update. It did enlighten me a bit on why many newspaper companies have taken the actions they have, and it has a good chapter on the impact of Wall Street on the newspaper business (really, the news business in general). But the ultimate lesson learned- I will try to remember, with a book like this, to check the publication date. Had I realized it was so old, I would have left it on the shelf.

Currently reading: Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas (yeah, still plugging away- this is a good story, just very long); The Angel Tree, by Daphne Benedis-Grab; and Dead Wake, by Erik Larson.
Tags: contemporary, non-fiction
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