Inflation may have upped book prices last year, but recession certainly did not “down” the number of new titles. Publishers Weekly reports an admittedly incomplete total of 1,458 new American books classified under religion in the Dewey system, an increase of 84 over the 1973 figure. (Many other titles of religious significance would be classified under such topics as biography, history, and sociology.) This means that our surveyors had to be selective, and the editors had to cut even more because of space limitations. (We also added a few titles that appeared very late in the year.) Any praises for the coverage go to the surveyors, but blame for omissions and terseness might belong instead to us.
We have aimed these surveys at the reasonably mature Christian. We do not necessarily identify the books as evangelical (except those in our “choice” list page 45); they are books that evangelicals, among others, can find to be of help.
Thanks go to the publishers who cooperated in sending review copies. Readers who find the number of titles we mention mind-boggling should meet the publishers’ representatives, who cannot understand how we could mention so few of their wares!
