The Lighthouse Keeper
FICTION AND SELF-HELP
BY DANIEL W. DRAKE ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
In setting out more books for the second day of the Atheneum's annual book sale on Sunday morning, it was readily apparent that the fiction category was predominant. The fiction books took up many more shelf-feet, both on tables and in boxes on the ground, then the other categories combined.

Molly Anderson, the executive director of the Atheneum, noted that an architect had come to the sale the day before looking for five running feet of fiction books that still had their dust jackets. Apparently, the client was coming to take possession of the new house and wanted to find the bookshelf filled upon arrival. It didn't matter what books; it just mattered that the jackets were in place and in good condition.

A decorator also was eying a carton filled with "Harvard Classics," finely bound, uniform editions of some of the great works of fiction. This purchase, if consummated, might have been for a client who thought that class was not a bookcase filled with a mixed set of modern fiction with dust jackets intact, but rather a shelf occupied by a single set of red-bound works with the predominant lettering on the spine being "Harvard Classics" and the name of the book less visible. The decorator dithered too long. Happily, 37 of these books were spared this dust-gathering fate when purchased on Sunday morning by a woman who seemed thrilled by the idea of reading them.

There was not much to be said for the self-help ethic of these homeowners.

The second largest category of books in the sale was in the loosely defined grouping of self-help. The titles in this section ranged from "Windows for Dummies" - a book about computers, not about how to get your window sashes unstuck without breaking them after a long, damp winter - to a few books on sexuality and quite a few on various forms of spirituality. (Does this mean that people, upon realizing that their quests are still unsatisfied, nonetheless hang on to their sex guides, but dump the books on the latest meditation fad?)

Ms. Anderson confirmed that the same situation exists within the library's circulating collection. She said fiction books are by far the most popular among adults, with self-help a distant second. She did acknowledge that there was a bit of ambiguity between self-help and religion because the two sections are next to each other in the library and at one end of the self-help spectrum, at least, there is considerable overlap between the two categories. (One dare not even raise the question of whether, in some instances, there is also overlap with fiction, but at least there is a physical separation of those categories on the shelves adequate to provide an appropriate quarantine.)

Whatever their reasons, people were enjoying themselves browsing through the books for particular treasures. It was a peaceful scene. Then a new arrival announced that Nantucket had once again been featured on the front page of the day's New York Times.

This time, the august newspaper gave full attention to the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund and, true to form, cast the story once again in terms of Nantucket's being a playground of the wealthy. And so it might have been if the article was about buying books for the sake of filling shelves, but with respect to the 'Sconset project, the article really missed the point.

The 'Sconset beach project is the ultimate selfhelp effort. There is nothing ambiguous about what the homeowners along the bluff in 'Sconset want to do. They want to save their homes, many of which date back to the 1920s and '30s and now qualify as "historic," as well as the beauty of a unique part of Nantucket. They are prepared to spend their considerable resources to do it. They are flying in the face of the conventional wisdom that the sea always wins, but if they want to take that risk, it is their privilege, as it is when they invest in hedge funds or derivatives. And, as we have said before, as long as they can demonstrate, to the greatest extent feasible, that the project will not cause significant and sustained environmental damage, then they should be allowed to proceed. It will work or it won't. So be it.

The story headline, "The Wealthy Stake $25 Million In Nantucket War With the Sea," was inflammatory. So was the first paragraph: "...the phrase 'money is no object' is more than a figure of speech. Starter homes sell for $800,000 or more, a coffee shop breakfast for two can top $50.00 and carpenters routinely commute to work by airplane."

The report is technically correct about the starter houses and the carpenters, but doesn't go into the reasons, which are less that "money is no object" and more that land is finite and human resources are scarce on an isolated island. As to the $50 coffee shop breakfast, it is undoubtedly possible, but most of (two of) us eat our fill of good, hearty food for $15-20.

Aside from some factual confusion, the article gives a pretty good overview of the situation, but it never gets to the heart of the Fund's proposal. Simply stated, the beach would not just be rebuilt but it would be made wider than it has ever been so that the sand would absorb the force of the waves before they get to the bottom of the bluff.

That's almost irrelevant. One wonders, how the Times would have cast the article if the people of Nantucket had decided to undertake the beach nourishment project. It is a unique situation because nothing like it has been proposed for the northeast coast of the United States; thus it is certainly newsworthy. But would the story have gotten front page space on Sunday if the taxpayers were footing the bill? After all, $25 million is quite a bit less than is being spent on the new Surfside wastewater treatment plant. Similarly, it is less than the cost of school facility improvements that are being proposed. In that case, one wonders if the project would have gotten any coverage at all by the grey lady (formerly) of 43rd Street? It certainly wouldn't have been a front page story.

Because this is a self-help project by people of means, who have no other recourse to save their homes, it gets seized on by the Times as what it sees as another example of Nantucket excess. Many of these involved, individuals and families, have been coming to the island for many more years than most of the naysayers have been here. Some of them have given much to the community over the decades. To hold them up as reckless spenders of vast amounts of money is an unfair portrayal that borders on the fictitious. In this venture, they are not Gatsby-esque, the paragon of fictional excess. Their seriousness is out there for everyone to see.

If the New York Times is looking for Nantucket story ideas, we would be happy to suggest some: the struggle to keep the cranberry bogs alive; the battle to keep the last self-sustaining bay scallop fishery self-sustaining (Self-interest acknowledged!); the rich cultural environment or the many land and ecological conservation efforts. If they want to maintain their focus on the well-to-do, how much is given by those folks to the more than 100 local not-for-profits every year. Forget it: all they would do is talk about the parties and all the sockless people.

Fiction and self-help. Where does one category leave off and the other start? Maybe a better question

is: What is perceived by some to sell newspapers? I

The "Lighthouse Keeper" reflects the views of the author and does not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Nantucket Independent. Please send any ideas or comments to drake@nantucketindependent. com.