Books Quote by The Economist
““A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read ‘The Lost Symbol’, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.””
About This Quote
Source Article: The Economist, “The Paradox of Popularity”, 2023
Popular books are often read by less discerning readers, while obscure books are judged by more avid, critical readers, skewing perceived quality.
In simple terms: Popular books get low‑standard readers; obscure books get high‑standard readers.
Key Takeaway
Read widely to calibrate taste.
Themes
reading
quality
taste
culture
media
literature
Mood
reflective
critical
Type
analytical
observational
When to use this quote
- book clubs
- library recommendations
- personal reading lists
- literary criticism
- educational curricula
Key Concepts
cognitive bias
social proof
selection bias
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you evaluate books by popularity or by personal standards?
- How does your reading breadth affect your judgments?
A Different Perspective
Popular works may be overvalued due to limited readership.
![“An oft-quoted statistic from the [United Nations] reports is that the amount of literature translated into Spanish in a single year exceeds the entire corpus of what has been translated into Arabic in 1,000 years.” quote by The Economist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/17b/the-economist-57563_books_an-oft-quoted-statistic-from-the-united_2479137.jpg)
