Gallup has long espoused the value of doing what you do best, every day, penning a sequence of bestsellers to help all of us identify our strengths and figure out whether we’re putting them to good use. Hand in hand with this school of thought is the idea that we should spend our precious time – perhaps the biggest scarcity in our ever wired world – doing what we truly love.

Given the tough state of the publishing world, it’s a great time to be in the game for love of the written word.

Last week, we lost four Conde Nast magazines to the difficult economy and falling ad dollars. This week, our friends at 800 CEO READ passed on the last column written by their local book review editor, Geeta Sharma Jensen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She was among those taking an early buy out in early August. We think it’s a poignant tribute to the passion that books can inspire.