Stolen from the Ny Observer about activity at the Frankfurt Book Fair...

"The idea of books as escapism, as an easy way to transport oneself from the reality of troubled times, was a recurring theme. Will books really be to this new depression what Shirley Temple films were to downtrodden fantasists of the 1930s? It remains to be seen whether the received wisdom that books have historically been immune to recession will hold true this time around. The Internet age has not yet experienced this scale of collapse, and it is possible that readers will find their escape online, where the content happens to be free. Books' very length, on the other hand, may well be their best advantage, Ms. Reidy argued: "Their length creates a sense of investment--they have value as gifts."

So... do you think more people will read, or less?