<p>"No vices are so hard to eradicate as those which are popularly regarded as virtues. Among these the vice of reading is foremost."<br><br>A great American novelist offers a scathing attack on the worst kinds of reading. Edith Wharton argues that the growing cultural influence of "mechanical" readers is having a disastrous impact on the world of letters. A subtly devastating work of social criticism, The Vice of Reading is also a celebration of...