Yesterday we were told that Kindle sales are being driven by . . . older folks. Like so many forms of technology. Yeah. Here's a breakdown:

Per John Makinson's quip at an LBF panel, over half of reporting Kindle owners are 50 or older, and 70 percent are 40 or older. Here is the full age bracket distribution:

0 - 19: 5%

20 - 29: 10%

30 - 39: 15%

40 - 49: 19.5%

50 - 59: 23%

60 - 69: 19.5%

70 - 79: 6%

80+: 2%

First of all, let me say that I do not consider forty to be old. And not just because I'm slouching toward that number, either -- sub-saharan Africa and the internet are the only places where forty is considered an advanced age. The writer of the article throws out the theory that Kindle users may have arthritis or visual impairments. While that might be true for some in the upper age brackets, my theory is that most of these folks are afflicted with another condition of the middle-aged: money to burn. Kids aren't buying Kindles, in part, because they're broke from buying Macbooks and Iphones. Also, Grandma just bought a Kindle, so how cool could it be?

__________________________________________
The May selections for Andrew's Book Club are books by well-loved story writers, Robert Boswell and Bonnie Jo Campbell.

Be sure to visit the site throughout the month, as Andrew will post mini-interviews with this month's authors.

___________________________________________
At the Paper Cuts blog, Zak Smith writes a paragraph with the kind of broad, confident strokes I like:

People in difficulty in America are often in serious need of a good movie, a good book, good music. They often have an inkling that the culture coming out of the tap isn’t doing the trick: it isn’t telling them what they need to know in a way they can believe. I also noticed, writing my book, that pretty much everyone in America is in difficulty sooner or later.

Then he offers some music to help keep you sane.