In this issue: COMMENT "Reading the Numbers", by Margaret Talbot: The drop in abortion rates. A REPORTER AT LARGE "Cheap Words", by George Packer: Amazon's impact on the book publishing business. ONWARD AND OUTWARD "This Old Man", by Roger Angell: Life in the nineties. A CRITIC AT LARGE "Bigger Than Phil", by Adam Gopnik: When did faith start to fade?