But unread books promise a future, full of reading, but... still a future.

My friend Cole and I were talking about the American tendency to consume vs. the European tendency to experience. Could this be a reason for the decreased public funding of American libraries -- the feeling that now that everyone can buy books, no one needs to borrow?

Wow, that is so right on the money. I definitely find myself guilty of such behavior.

there has already(?) been a more than readable book on this phenomenon and similar ones: pfaller, robert (ed): interpassivitaet. studien ueber delegiertes geniessen, wien/new york (springer), 2000, ISBN 321183303X.

unfortunately, afaik there is no english edition, but some translations of the contained essays can be found on the net, e.g. the one by slavoj zizek (www.egs.edu/faculty/zizek/zizek-the-interpassive-subject.html). have fun. ;-)

@jeremy:i can assure you that this phenomenon exists in europe quite as well... (sadly, also in respect to the public library fundings)

erm... i meant to address nick, actually, not jeremy. the divider lines are confusing, they should be positioned between different posts, not between post and poster.