In a Frankfurt wrapup piece in yesterday’s New York Times, Edward Wyatt dishes on the the world’s biggest book fair and ultimately asks, in this world of instant communication, “does anyone really need to sit for five days in a smoke-filled complex of hangar-size buildings?”

His answer is no. Gone are the days of attendees madly rushing off to their hotel rooms to read available manuscripts; however, Wyatt contends that the fair still has its place. Big deals still go down — “a biography of [billionaire tycoon] Warren Buffett, to be written by Alice Schroeder, a former Wall Street financial analyst, was sold for $7-million to Random House” — and North American publishers and members of the public, who are allowed entry to the fair, are privy to spectacular “Frankfurt Only” deals on bedside reads. Though Wyatt comes close to suggesting we do away with the Frankfurt Book Fair altogether, one gets the impression that such a move will be a long time coming. People just have too much fun at the parties.

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Click here for the full story from The New York Times