对编辑来说，爱一本书像爱一个人，没有一种爱不必负担起相应的责任，没有一种责任无需坚忍不拔的精神。 这是一份让人生充实的职业，本身就是一种人文教育，你不但可以领到薪水，还能在学识和心灵上获得无法衡量的满足。一位有创造力的编辑最大的喜悦和至高的特权，是有机会接触到人生的各个方面，发现那些尚未被满足的需求，并找到最好的作者来满足这些 需求……
《编辑人的世界》是美国五十年来最权威的编辑职业“圣经”，是出版从业者案头必备书，中文新版完整呈现原书全貌。自一九六二年问世，分别于一九八五年，一九九三年进行了两次修订，本版据一九九三年第三次完全修订版翻译。收录了美国当代最杰出的出版人撰写的三十八篇文章，从编辑行业性质、职业素养，到如何策划选题、编辑稿件、打造畅销书；从编辑大众市场类图书，到专门化类型读物……《编辑人的世界》将为你揭开编辑的神秘面纱，带你领略千变万化的出版行业。

The book publishing industry is going through a period of profound and turbulent change brought about in part by the digital revolution. What is the role of the book in an age preoccupied with computers and the internet? How has the book publishing industry been transformed by the economic and technological upheavals of recent years, and how is it likely to change in the future? This is the first major study of the book publishing industry in Britain and the United States for more than two decades. Thompson focuses on academic and higher education publishing and analyses the evolution of these sectors from 1980 to the present. He shows that each sector is characterized by its own distinctive ‘logic’ or dynamic of change, and that by reconstructing this logic we can understand the problems, challenges and opportunities faced by publishing firms today. He also shows that the digital revolution has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on the book publishing business, although the real impact of this revolution has little to do with the ebook scenarios imagined by many commentators. Books in the Digital Age will become a standard work on the publishing industry at the beginning of the 21st century. It will be of great interest to students taking courses in the sociology of culture, media and cultural studies, and publishing. It will also be of great value to professionals in the publishing industry, educators and policy makers, and to anyone interested in books and their future.

五百多年来，书籍一直都是现代文化的重要特征，是教育和学术所依赖的基础。如果没有以书籍为形式一代代保存、传播、传承下来的资源财富，很难想像西方文化乃至当今世界文明将会是怎样的。但是最近几年，却涌现出这样的猜想，那就是我们熟知并重视的这个五百多年的文化是否有消失的可能。今天，图书出版业正在经历一场变革，其变化之深刻就如同谷腾堡开始用传统的螺旋压印机来生产印刷文本那样。这个变革的动因之一是由数字化引领的科技革命，还没有人能准确知道这个变革将会在图书出版领域怎样演绎。尽管，以书的形式被包装起来的内容还是会以各种形式传播，仍有很多人在思考，印刷书籍是否会重蹈黑胶唱片的覆辙，最后变成收藏家的藏品，成为已逝岁月的古怪遗物。书籍会继续作为重要的形式存在于以电脑、电视为普遍文化形态的世界中吗？