"there are book buyers and there are book lovers"

One of the things I’ve learned since getting involved with books and authors is that there are book buyers and there are book lovers. The book business is growing at an enviable rate—some 8 percent annually; yet 40 percent of all books bought in the United States are bought in the fourth quarter—the holiday season—and half of the books bought are never read. By contrast, Booknotes viewers are readers. We know because we hear from them often with their suggestions for our program.

Brian Lamb, Booknotes: America’s Finest Authors on Reading, Writing, and the Power of Ideas (New York: Times Books, 1997), p. xviii