It’s said that the average American reads one book a month. Given such a statistic, one might be inclined to ask why people continue to publish books if the odds of being read are so low.
Perhaps the best argument for why the book still reigns supreme as a tool for both learning and entertainment is that given the amount of effort it takes to publish a book—especially one of the academic variety—the book remains a reliable source of information in a way other sources do not.
What about the internet, you might ask. Isn’t that a more expansive catalogue of our collective knowledge? It might be, if you can find what you’re looking for. These days, search engines are getting worse as their functionality is hijacked by “SEO spam”—search results that aren’t what you needed or come from a dubious source. The decline of search accuracy is a byproduct of the strong correlation between a top search result also being an affiliate marketer. In short, the search engine has become “pay to play”.
When is the last time you were deeply engrossed in a book and a popup ad flew out of the pages? Never, right? Books remain a holdout in a world increasingly buried under an avalanche of advertising and influencers jockeying for one’s limited attention.
While thorough investigation of a given subject and nuance are absent in most digital media, the book continues to provide an unparalleled learning and entertainment experience. “Our students often come to class to learn from the very person who ‘wrote the book’ on the topic being presented,” said Alicia Salaz, vice provost and university librarian. “Through monograph publishing, our UO faculty members contribute in-depth analysis and comprehensive perspective in their area of subject matter expertise and make this expertise and insight available to a broader global audience of learners and scholars.”
A national leader in book publishing
The range of UO books published in a year is wide, from volumes of poetry to political analysis. For many people, including academic faculty, publishing a book is a crowning achievement, a culmination of years of effort and research, a way to share one’s passion for a subject with others to enrich the world. Books give us a way to travel around the world, to live lives and think thoughts not our own, without ever leaving our living rooms.
“UO faculty are recognized nationally and internationally as prolific generators of important, valuable monographs, and our contributions are a key feature of the UO’s overall standing with respect to research excellence,” said Leah Middlebrook, director of the Oregon Humanities Center and associate professor of comparative literature and Spanish.
In celebration of the achievement of authoring a book, five UO faculty have given us a glimpse behind the veil of what it’s like to write one.
Christopher Chávez explores how to brand a revolution through a story of Cuban rum. Abigail Fine brings us into the weird world of relic culture, including a decorative knot of the composer Franz Liszt’s hair. Brian Trapp relives the 28 years he shared with his twin brother Danny, who had cerebral palsy. Eleanor Paynter takes us to Italy, where recent migrants from former Italian colonies grapple with remaking their lives. And Amy Swanson brings us to the street dances of Dakar, where she witnesses how certain expressions of humanity are allowed in within the world of dance, but discouraged elsewhere.
Perhaps Henry David Thoreau said it best: “Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”
As universities continue their work of training the next generation of scientists, writers, educators, doctors, and business leaders, they also continue to expand how we collectively know the world. A fitting inheritance indeed.