UPDATE: Brain Doc Diary Does Boffo Biz

Carl Jung's The Red Book, a compilation of journal entries and artwork concerning his HGA experiences that began c. 1913, is apparently selling quite well--considering: the thing is a monstrous 11.6 X 15.4 inches, weighs a staggering 9.6 pounds, and lists for a humongous $195.00. You can get it for less--if you can get it. The first three print runs sold out, and even the fourth printing is getting scarce. I'm glad I reserved mine early, but I've barely even looked through it, so busy have I been or so preoccupied with other reading matter...

Sophia said today, after reading of the purges at the Washington Times, "I guess the Zeroes were the last gasp of the newspaper industry," and certainly it's a little disturbing to see Old Media toppling like so many Ozymandiases. Then comes a boutique title like this one, something only a geek could love, with painstakingly reproduced color drawings and a scholarly introduction, and, saith the Times (NY), said tome is "partly hand-bound" and "uses two different kinds of custom-made paper." The Red Book, despite the ascendancy of POD and the pdf, is, for now, the kind of artifact only an old-school commercial publisher could have created...and no, as the Times points out, its sales aren't anywhere near, not in the same galaxy as the sales of schlock icons such as Dan Brown and Sarah Palin. But their books would lose nothing on a Kindle or as a pdf or e-book, while The Red Book's complexity could only attain accessible form as a -- real book.

Hmmm... maybe instead of running away from irrelevance, book publishers should try embracing it more often.

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Earlier on WiHW: Jung's HGA Diary