There Will Not Be a Pop Quiz at the End of Your Life

"You might sometimes...wonder why all those newspapers which have books pages review exactly the same books in the same week. Wouldn't you think, in a competitive market, it would be in their interests to attract readers by offering something different?

One answer I think is that broadsheet readers do not tend to be people of an independent set of mind. They are the type who believe that there is in life a kind of national curriculum for adults, a set of things - "issues", as they tend to call them - which they need to know about, in art, politics, books, cinema, ideas, food, fashions. One paper may suit them better than another, but this is just a minor matter of flavouring, or more likely of habit. The Telegraph reader wants, or thinks he needs , to be superficially aware of precisely the same set of "issues" as does the Guardian or Independent reader.

The real meat in life is hidden in nooks and crannies, that's why you have to read like an archaeologist, not like a newsreader"


Mat Coward "Success   ...and how to avoid it"