Death Comes for the Book Critic?

Is book reviewing a dying art? Some critics think so, according to a piece today on NPR’s Morning Edition: “Book Reviewers Decry Fewer Newspaper Pages”. The number of print pages devoted to book reviews is declining, and yet another major newspaper recently axed its separate review section in favor of carrying scattered reviews in the Arts section.

Some blame declining newspaper readership, but others point the finger at bloggers, especially popular ones such as Bookslut. Critics of blogging book critics assert that independents (like me!) lack institutional credibility. How can a reader know if they're just spinning titles to promote sales or for some other nefarious purpose? Of course, indies (like me again) could counter that we're often less likely to be sales motivated than someone who's writing for an ads-dependent newspaper. Perhaps review readers deserve a little credit for being able to tell when a reviewer is biased and for being wise enough and motivated enough to move on to someone else as need be.

Putting the question of blame aside, as someone who relies on reviews in various media to find good books as well as occasionally writing formal ones for print publication, this is a troubling situation. I've been touched by it recently, when a nature group's newspaper that has often published my reviews decided to shrink the size and number of its pages. I applaud their goal to save paper and funds for other critical environmental projects, but I lament the loss of a good resource for nature book news. My latest review for them appears only on their website.

What’s being done about the decline? The National Book Critics Circle has launched a campaign to save the book review. Part of their effort is a new award, available to print, web, or other media, for outstanding book reviews. Learn more about the whole campaign at NBCC’s blog, Critical Mass.
Many environmentalists might see this is a backburner issue, much less pressing than stopping zebra mussels or protecting parkland from snowmobiles, but I believe that books wield extraordinary power to inform and mobilize environmentalists—and even occasionally make new ones. What other ways can be found to save the book review? I’ll be thinking about ways I can help and looking for suggestions from all of you.

Blogger (Book and) Bio Blitz

A biology student and writer, Jeremy, at The Voltage Gate has initiated The First Annual Blogger Bioblitz. What's a Bioblitz? In general, it asks observers to identify and count all of the different species (plant, animal fungal) in a certain area within a certain time. Conducted between April 21 and April 29, bloggers around the world will make multitudes of counts, to be compiled and posted on Voltage Gate, with mapping and other cool techno-enhancements, depending on contributions.

I'm planning to "blitz" a small area around my local library and encourage others, non-bloggers included, to give blitzing a try. It's a great way to put your stacks of dusty field guides to work and to figure out which guides work best & which new ones you might need to really get to know your local flora and fauna. To learn the rules of the blitz, please visit Jeremy at Voltage Gate. It's a good blog to visit for its own sake, too, for stories about biology, ecology, and the wacky world of environmental science.