The Paradox of Globalization

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After the 70s in particular immigration to the United States goes up quite rapidly. Many more Americans get passports, they travel abroad and yet at the same time we're less interested in some aspects of foreign literature. It might be a cultural thing that America's in many ways always been sort of integrating.

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.

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