Books—Condensed Form

The book summaries were seldom of worth-while books; those chosen for digestion were usually the second-rate choices of a society standardised at the lower middle class level of culture. Even on the rare occasions when an independent work was chosen—the speaker instanced Koestler's "Arrival and Departure"—its social philosophy or moral foundation was obscured by playing up the more sensational elements. A recent book summarised and saluted as one of the great works of our time, was, of course, "The Road to Serfdom," which may be obtained in bulk quantities from the publishers of "Reader's Digest."

The "New Yorker" has now withdrawn its contract with the "Reader's Digest," one reason being that it discovered the staff of the "Reader's Digest" was writing or commissioning articles, then farming them out to other magazines, from which they were subsequently brought back and digested. The extent to which this was happening rendered possible the danger of the "Reader's Digest" exercising a cultural monopoly.

A figure well-known in Wellington commended the "Digest" as an effective instrument of mass education. On being asked whether he did not think education should be tackled on slightly more meaty lines, he coined a phrase in replying that one could lead a horse to water but could not make it drink, Mr. Scott's own reply is that one can lead a horse to water and make it drink any damned thing one likes. The development of National Socialism in Germany is our best modern example.