[New Book]

Kang Heetaek, head of the New Media Team at the Gyeonggi Provincial Council, said he wrote <The Owl of Minerva Reads the Newspaper at Dawn> (Magic House) with “just one purpose”: the idea of “sharing knowledge.”

The author made a daily practice of typing out newspaper columns and writing down his thoughts on them. Eventually, he collected those pieces into a book. “It was so disappointing that truly wonderful sentences and valuable information were not even chosen in the first place (because people don’t read newspapers), and that even after people read them, they quickly forgot them,” he said. He therefore believed that people could become wiser by sharing and passing on one another’s knowledge.

“More than 30 years ago, when the internet became mainstream, people predicted that newspapers as a medium would disappear. It’s true that the industry is facing considerable difficulties, but, as the example of The New York Times shows, it can also lead to an increase in paying subscribers,” he said, adding, “I hope we can join forces.” He noted that negative public opinion about print media has been widespread in recent years, and said, “The fact that people don’t read books doesn’t mean no one can make them.”

The publisher said, “In a world where people no longer read newspapers, this book, inspired by newspapers, shows why we should still read them.” The publisher added, “The author has read several years’ worth of newspapers on behalf of readers. We hope this book will bring comfort to the writers who contributed valuable columns to newspapers.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.