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The Evolution of Reading In the Digital Age
Doofus writes "'Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused.' is the subtitle of Craig Mod's thoughtful discussion aboutthe evolution of reading material from printed dead-tree to flowing digital content. I stumbled upon his blog post from a related NYTimes article, Former Book Designer Says Good Riddance to Print. He breaks reading material down into two basic categories: 'Formless,' in which the content and meaning of the writing has no dependency on presentation, and 'Definite,' in which layout and presentation play a role in conveying meaning. Mod makes the point that as digital presentation improves, devices such as the iPad will bring authors newer and improved platforms upon which to display Definite content. Despite this, he says, some works will be better consumed in physical print because 'They're books that embrace their physicality or have stood the test of time. They're the kinds of books the iPad can't displace because they're complete objects.'"
From TFA: We’re losing the dredge of the publishing world: disposable books.
Sounds like "dregs" I guess--if you talk like Sean Connery. I stopped reading right there. That's just a bit too much illiteracy for an article about books.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Electronic books are probably one of the iPad's killer apps. Maybe not the ones we'll see immediately -- the ones basically just ported from the Kindle or something -- but the next generation of books, or the ones after that. Interacting with the book is where the technology will really shine. Think about A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (from The Diamond Age).
Actually, DRM enables e-book libraries. There are quite a few libraries actively loaning out e-books.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
So do I. I never use library for several reasons:
-The books are ripped off, broken or people wrote on them.
-Last time I checked the 3 libraries close to me, they had less than 30% of the book I have at home.
-I think book is one of the cheapest entertainment. I read approximatively a page in 1 minute to 1.5 minutes (non native english speaker). The last 3 books I read are "halting state" by charles stross, 8 USD for 324 pages, "the dreaming void" by peter hamilton 9 USD for 600 pages and "the engines of god" by jack mcdevitt 8 USD for 418 pages. The price per hour are respectively 1.18 USD, 0.72 USD, 0.91 USD. This is approximatively 5 time cheaper than a movie at the cinema (just for me, not talking about my gf that join me for this 'boring science fiction' movie or if I join her to the latest 'same over again love story' ).
-I can still lend them to friend or even give them as gift.
-(Call this one luxury if you want) I like to have at home several books that I haven't read yet but that I will so that when I want to read a book, I can just pick the one that fit my mood NOW.