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The Globalization of Tobacco Pipe Literature: Difference between revisions
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Now to my own view on the book biz. The American pipe-smoking and -collecting community is substantial, yet there aren’t many folks authoring books on pipes lately and, coincidentally, there aren’t many pipers who are purchasing pipe books, whether in English or in a foreign language. What I do know with certainty is that the price of any pipe book in any language is a very small fraction of the cost of any pipe, so it can’t be the price that prevents a pipe smoker or collector from buying the occasional book. The internet is most likely the reason why pipe books no longer sell well. | Now to my own view on the book biz. The American pipe-smoking and -collecting community is substantial, yet there aren’t many folks authoring books on pipes lately and, coincidentally, there aren’t many pipers who are purchasing pipe books, whether in English or in a foreign language. What I do know with certainty is that the price of any pipe book in any language is a very small fraction of the cost of any pipe, so it can’t be the price that prevents a pipe smoker or collector from buying the occasional book. The internet is most likely the reason why pipe books no longer sell well. | ||
I am convinced that there is still much more to investigate and publish about our 500-year history of the pipe. Might we soon see the next good book about pipes in any language? Might it also be published in more than one language? A more appropriate question is whether any new pipe book will sell in this worldwide Web-centric, Web-dependent world that has become a fundamental shift in how people seek and obtain information? There’s satisfaction in having an infinite supply of information at your fingertips, just a click away, and ready to download instantly. This technology makes it easier to search for free information and books cost, but I keenly aware that the Web is chock-full of misinformation, misunderstanding, and myths regarding pipe history. Sam Blumenfeld “Why the Internet Will Never Replace Books” (home-school-com) views the Internet as the place to sell more books, not replace them, but he wrote that in 1999. Since then, there have been myriad internet changes in how we discover and share information, news, ideas, and how we entertain ourselves. Today, there is a compromise: e-books, and time will tell if there is a future for printed pipe books in the USA in a post-Briar Books Press era and in a nonpartisan European publishing industry. | I am convinced that there is still much more to investigate and publish about our 500-year history of the pipe. Might we soon see the next good book about pipes in any language? Might it also be published in more than one language? A more appropriate question is whether any new pipe book will sell in this worldwide Web-centric, Web-dependent world that has become a fundamental shift in how people seek and obtain information? There’s satisfaction in having an infinite supply of information at your fingertips, just a click away, and ready to download instantly. This technology makes it easier to search for free information and books cost, but I am keenly aware that the Web is chock-full of misinformation, misunderstanding, and myths regarding pipe history. Sam Blumenfeld “Why the Internet Will Never Replace Books” (home-school-com) views the Internet as the place to sell more books, not replace them, but he wrote that in 1999. Since then, there have been myriad internet changes in how we discover and share information, news, ideas, and how we entertain ourselves. Today, there is a compromise: e-books, and time will tell if there is a future for printed pipe books in the USA in a post-Briar Books Press era and in a nonpartisan European publishing industry. | ||
Whatever your takeaway, for me, it was an interesting bibliographical exercise to identify so many books on pipes and their variant editions. | Whatever your takeaway, for me, it was an interesting bibliographical exercise to identify so many books on pipes and their variant editions. | ||