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I ’ve work as an editor in chief for 35 years — my full adult life . In that time I have assure many changes in the publishing industriousness : faster estimator , salutary software , and greater production from few and few actual workers . We could debate just how positive all this increase “ efficiency ” has been for publishing and for manufacturing as a whole . But primarily I hear the same dubiousness from friends and unknown alike : “ Are books becoming obsolete ? ”
My solvent has always been a categorical and automatic , “ No . ” Even with the growing popularity of audio and digital publication , many referee still gravitate toward the printed script — at least so far . Yet the interrogative get me to reflect on what Chelsea Green does as a publishing firm , and I wonder whether we are still serving as a confirming personnel in the world . Whether , in unretentive , we have a role beyond merely manufacturing new books and turning a profits .
Whatever the final consumer intersection — mark or digital sound recording or ebook — playscript represent estimate . The good , longest - lasting , and most influential books are plainly ideas filtered through the unequalled perspective and talent of their author , and structured in a written form that demands an internal logic , cohesion , and run . ( That ’s where editor in chief get in . ) The very human activity of writing implies an organisation of the creator ’s thought , impressions , and opinions .
Then I think about the state of our present society : increasingly tribal , antagonistic , and separate into our own insulated silos or sound reflection bedroom of thought and beliefs . Worldwide the raise of patriotism and isolationism bank on reverence of “ the other . ” It build bulwark and barriers , whether between masses or in footing of trade . We ’re serve up instant headlines in an endless news program cps and fed unsatisfying facts and fables from the powerful firing hosepipe of societal spiritualist ( an Orwellian term if there ever was one ) . We have bot and troll going on phishing expeditions on our own devices . We hesitate between gullibility and skepticism .
Amid this welter , Good Book offer something very dissimilar . It takes a mountain of time and effort to pen a good book , and reading one requires prison term and dedication , too — something we often do n’t think we can part with in our increasingly tight - pace life . And yet , this kind of careful , quiet reading and contemplation is precisely what we so desperately need today . read a book makes us slack down and become a bit more human . We may not agree with a Koran ’s line of reasoning or its generator ’s idea , but even if we do n’t , it engages us and makes us more empathetic and open to other ideas , other possibility and linear perspective that we may not have considered ourselves .
In fact I would argue that ideas are the original and highest signifier of “ free trade . ” At Chelsea Green we take a wide , indeed worldwide perspective , publishing authors from many country and disseminating their idea . Just as significantly , we are bringing some of the best American writers and thinkers to the world .
The ideas we publish build bridges , not wall . They build up and expand communities instead of separating and segregate them .
revitalize the solid ground . Restore the Human Spirit . It ’s a grandiloquent ordering , to be sure . But great books , the vehicles for great melodic theme , have the big businessman to pep up us and get us to do just that .
Ben Watson is a senior editor in chief at Chelsea Green who has worked for the company since 1993 . His editing projects have included bestselling titles such asThe New Organic Grower , Wild Fermentation , andGaia ’s Garden . He is also the author of several nonfictional prose books , includingCider , Hard and Sweet . Ben is a recognized expert on apples and cider , and has served as a judge for several external competitions . He lives in the Monadnock Region of southwesterly New Hampshire , where he works to conserve and circularize heritage assortment of fruits and vegetables .
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