Like all the members of the National Book Critics Circle, last month I was asked to participate in an online survey about the ethics of book reviewing. I dutifully pointed and clicked my way through the dozens of questions, some of which were no-brainers: Is it ever okay to review a book without reading all of it? (For the record, no.) But I couldn't help feeling that, with newspapers around the country slashing their book coverage, ethical problems are the least of the problems facing the book world today. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fired its long-serving, widely respected book-review editor, Teresa Weaver, actually prompting protesters to picket the building. The Los Angeles Times Book Review, one of the nation's best stand-alone book reviews, was folded into another section of the Sunday paper. More and more regional newspapers are replacing local reviewers with wire coverage, or dropping their book reviews altogether. In this context, the NBCC survey seemed a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.