"The slow death of the book may be with us," The Times of London moans, in what must be the eight millionth story about the death of reading/books in the last year. "That was an incredibly painful sentence to write." It was painful to read, too! Has anyone else noticed that it's hard to read an article over 800 words these days? That may be the real danger, not much-vaunted electronic readers like Kindle. What are the signs of this pending apocalpyse?

In the latest in a series of industry moves to embrace the digital world, Random House announced yesterday that it would allow readers to download chapters of books. HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, has revealed plans to allow readers access to previews of new titles online. British and American publishers are rushing to digitalise their back catalogues. [The Times of London]

Clearly, the end is nigh.