Reading is Fundamental

I was looking through the newest edition of the Pottery Barn catalog yesterday and noticed what was for me a disturbing trend in decorating.

Years ago I noticed that people were buying hardcover books based on the color of the spine, regardless of the text they contained, just to fit in with the decor of the room. That was bad enough.

Now, Pottery Barn has several images of bookshelves in their advertised rooms that contain books that are turned so all you see are the white of their pages, not even their colored spines or titles.

To someone like me, who loves to read, this is just another commentary on American Life and how it's changed over the years. Not many curl up with a good book and a warm cup of something on a rainy day anymore. They listen to books on tape in their car as they go to work, or they don't read any books at all and instead fill their time with television and movies.

It's just sad. There is so much good literature out there, fiction and non-fiction, that can entertain and educate, and it's a shame that more people don't take advantage of it. And it's sad to me that a company as popular and influential as Pottery Barn doesn't use their power with more care.