The New Yorker on Amazon and Books

This article from George Packer on the impact of Amazon on the book industry and the future of book publishing is harsh but insightful, and worth reading. It takes a penetrating look on how the company has become both a salvation and a tormentor of the book industry, which of course is not guiltless in how it was maneuvered into its current, desperate position. Packer’s larger point is important though, and summarized in this paragraph:

At Amazon.com, all the irritation and wasted time of a shopping expedition are gone — the search for a parking place, the surly floor clerk, the sold-out items, the perversely slow person ahead of you at checkout. You don’t have to think about how much the cashier, with her wrist in a splint, makes per hour. The Internet’s invisibility shields Amazon from some of the criticism directed at its archrival Walmart, with its all-too-human superstores. Online commerce allows even conscientious consumers to forget that other people are involved.

I’m an inveterate Amazon Prime customer, and I have to admit I never stopped to think substantively about the impact of that service. Neither did I ever think very deeply about how the company affects the ecosystems of the markets it enters — beyond the tech headlines praising Amazon’s ruthless efficiency. Read the full article here.

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