I think Kaufman has no idea what he's ranting about; he's just unhappy that "books," which he loves, has come to include formats he doesn't understand.

His original essay/rant may have the real key to his fears: Competition.

Had I been told from youth that my literary destination would be some 7 inch plastic gizmo containing my texts shuffling alongside thousands of other “texts” I would have spit in the face of such a profession and become instead a hit man or a rabbi.

He wants his books to be read individually, to take up physical space and get *attention* in the reader's mind.

I also find it fascinating that every "classic" he's mentioned in his rants was written by a white male. (MR doesn't address that issue; they're mostly pretty solidly entrenched in the idea of western literary classics as great literature.)