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Read other letters about this article
Um, some of you seem not to have noticed that Farhad Manjoo didn't actually post any spoilers. The story (circus?) around the downloading of the book is certainly newsworthy - and has a tech aspect.
Actually, I think it's quite fun - and I'm glad that a *book* is garnering this much attention. Media hype or not, I'm glad to see all this hoopla over a book - and the posting of the book to the web is a symptom of its success.
A lot has been said about the death of reading, and the fact that Harry Potter hasn't stemmed the tide. I don't think that was JK Rowling's intential. I also don't think one book series is enough to do that.
Given the reality that consumer electronics are taking over most of our leisure time (don't believe me - what are you doing right now?), it's far less likely that future books will capture the popular imagination the way that HP has. Much more likely that new gadgets (iPhone) or new software (Vista) will. Bookworms and English majors rejoice - this may be your last hurrah!
On another note...
I was disappointed that in another article, Salon posted spoilers, but at least they warned us so I'll wait until I've read the book before I read Laura Miller's article. Still, I'm old-fashioned enough (i.e., I still read fiction) to hope that Salon could have been respectful enough to wait until midnight tonight to post that article...
