In the book I mention a few times the technique that on line sellers like Amazon are refining of building up a buying pattern and prompting us to buy more. If you have bought X then you might like to know Y has just been published. Well I’ve bought a lot of books about shopping from Amazon for my research and have they sent me a prompt yet to buy All Consuming? Of course not. Where is the dynamic, creative and innovate free market when you need it most.
The market economy is not perfect! But come on, Amazon may be no more moral than other companies, but at least in their books they are selling something useful. I feel no guilt in buying books. I don’t begrudge the money – they are cheap at the price compared to coffee, beer and meals out. If Amazon encourages us to read more books, they will have been a force for good in society. It’s probably just the slave wages and working conditions that need looking at…
I’d be worried first that people spend their time looking at too much dross on TV before I worried about their stretching their imaginations with a book, even if it is Stephen King.