There's a book I read a review of. Marlon James, a brief history of Seven Killings. It's 704 pages and they're fairly dense pages. With the time it would take me to read this book, I could fly to Jamaica and spend an additional three days. And therefore, it didn't make sense for me to read the book. Now, how do you feel about that reasoning? Well, I'm full of admiration. If you think you could capture, you know, spending three days in Jamaica would be the equivalent.
Michael Orthofer, one of the world’s most prolific book reviewers, joins Tyler Cowen for a conversation on — what else? — books. Read to discover why Michael believes everyone should read more fiction, how we should choose books, why American popular literature is overrated, what he thinks about authors like Herman Melville, Fyoder Dostoevsky, Goethe, J.K. Rowling, Arno Schmidt, and many others, his recommendations for the best sites for readers, why studying literature at college was such a big disappointment, how much book covers matter, and why his opinion will never be the final word.
Check out the reader Q&A here and the Strand shopping video here.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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