Just give me the Reader's Digest Condensed version

John S. Zinsser Jr., 84,died recently of a heart attack.I can see you squinting your eyes trying to remember if you know him.Honestly,i too didn't till today.He was the chief in editor of the Reader's Digest condensed editions during the 1950s.It was under his tenure that the condensing the editions of well-written books and presenting it to the public gained prominence.He was instrumental in distributing books which in spite of having been well-written with good plots would have largely been missed by the public.These editions came as a collection of 3-6 books and after 1997,they were called the select editions. In spite of being condensed which would be scorned by the "serious readers",special efforts were undertaken so as to keep the basic facts and aesthetics from the original books.

I remember couple of years ago when i had finished reading "Mother" by Maxim Gorky and was trying to read other serious stuffs like "The Brothers Karamazmov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky,i got stuck in a terrible Reader's block.I was finding it difficult to lay hands even on to any kind of book.It was then i came across John Case's "The Murder Artist" in one of the Select Editions of Reader's Digest.It certainly wasn't serious stuff, it was the kind of book i would have ignored.However at that time i was desperately trying to get out of this block,so like any other book i tried reading it and guess what,i finished it one go.It was one of the better books in the thriller genre that i have read so far.Though i haven't read the many of the books of the following select editions,i must say i owe a belated thank you to Mr.Zinsser,who made it all possible for me and others.And "Thank You" is just "the Reader's Digest Condensed version" of what we would like to say to you.