When the latest publishing industry buyouts and layoffs were announced, it was a shock to see Paul Buckley on the list. Here, he reflects on 10 of his favorite projects from his Penguin career.
If climate disasters, a global pandemic, out-of-control unemployment, and civil unrest haven’t made you want to bring a new little bundle of joy into the world, turns out you are far from alone. Despite predictions that all this quarantining-at-home with our significant others (every single day, for what seems like forever) would lead to a COVID-inspired baby boom, the result is quite the opposite. Actually, it seems pretty out-of-touch for anyone to have presumed otherwise.
A story published today on NBC LX looked at data from several states that keep track of births in near-real-time, as well as some hospital systems, and showed that there were significant drops in December 2020 birth rates compared to the same period from one year earlier. The drops ranged from Arizona, down 5 percent, to Ohio, down 7 percent, to Florida, down 8 percent from December 2019. In short, it’s a baby bust.