ReZoom

Oh, just face it. The peepers aren't what they used to be and even those stylish trifocals don't handle every typographic situation.

But ever sensitive to the purchasing power of Boomers, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, Harlequin Enterprises, Random House and HarperCollins are getting into large-print books.

For us, of course, it has to be cool to get our interest. A story in Courant.com says the new lines have bigger type, generous spacing and the same cover art as smaller print versions. "More and more middle-aged consumers are looking for large-print books but don't want to admit that they need large-print books" says Marion Haugh, owner of the Large Print Bookshop in Englewood, Colo.

The story reports this: "According to Lighthouse International (a group that helps people deal with loss of vision), 17 percent of Americans 45 and older have some form of visual impairment. In 2010, all boomers will have reached that milestone birthday - a group of about 20 million - and most will be feeling the effects of presbyopia, the inability to focus on objects close up. (By the time we hit our 40s or 50s, the elasticity of the eye naturally decreases with age, and our close-up sight is affected.)"

Well, OK then. But our inner vision is as sharp as ever.