The future of books
March 24, 2007
I don’t have time to digest this interesting article in the Online Economist, so I’ll just link to it here for you to read (and comment, I hope).
The future of books | Not bound by anything | Economist.com
IN SECRET locations and using secret methods, human beings are scanning lots and lots of books for Google, the world’s largest web-search company. That humans are involved is beyond doubt (fingers are visible in the corners of many pages on books.google.com) although this is uncharacteristic of Google, which has a fetish for purist technology.
… As books go digital, new questions, both philosophical and commercial, arise. How, physically, will people read books in future? Will technology “unbind” books, as it has unbundled other media, such as music albums? Will reading habits change as a result? What happens when books are interlinked? And what is a book anyway?
Book-lovers unite! What does this all mean in the bibliophilic world? (Is that a real word?)
Dave, loving his books but loving the digital world as well.
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7 Responses to “The future of books”
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” Rather, as Mr Godin puts it, they are “souvenirs of the way we felt” when we read something. That is something that people are likely to go on buying.”
Yeah, that’s it. My only other comment would be regarding the eye strain that results from reading letters made of pixels. My aging eyes are rebelling from staring at a computer screen. Eyes have a much easier time focusing on images with well defined edges and good contrast, ie. printed page. Eyes have a very hard time focing on pixel charactes, they focus on the plane of the computer screen (or e-book), but cannot sustain that focus. My aging eyes need computer glasses, bifocals are a pain. So.. just my two cents worth, may the printed page prevail!
It’s just not comfortable reading from the screen for me either. But I do a lot of it.
I ditched bifocals (ready for trifocals) for varilux lenses which I guess you’d call infinite-focal. I get along pretty well with them at the keyboard.
For reading online reference material I download the file and print the pages I’m interested in for reading. For most of my fun or serious reading, its old-fashioned books for me every time. You must have inherited your pig-headedness from your dad.
I still haven’t read the whole article.
I read the article. I think the point about the usefulness of links is well-taken. Links give Wikipedia added usefulness and value.
Searching is another useful feature of on-line reading. I’ve sometimes wished I could search in a paper book, such as when I’ve wanted to make a note of a passage but read on, then later was unable to find the passage again.
A high-resolution monitor helps reduce CRT eyestrain, I’ve found, but an hour is still my limit for continuous reading from a screen.
Agreed. My ThinkPad display is a very crisp and readable 1600×1200, and I think the same resolution and ‘crispness,’ whatever that is, at 19″ instead of 15″ would be optimum for my eyes,
I hope it won’t be too long before a reader becomes available that is networkable, easy on the eyes, has searchability and links and … .
So I wonder what resolution my 15″ flat screen has. Dad, you’re saying a 19″ monitor would be better? I already have multifocal lenses, have a heck of a time finding the sweet spot which contributes to my neck/ back strain. I’m thinking of getting a bifocal pair with the top half the 23″ distance for computer screen and the bottom half for up close regular reading. Wondered about your Thinkpad dad, I assumed it was as awful as my computer screen!
Yeah, the search capability of computers is so helpful, especially since I hate to mark up a book, an aversion that had it’s beginnings in college when I used texts that were desecrated with someone else’s highlighting.
It is probably 1280 or so pixels wide, which is about optimum for a 15 inch LCD display. That establishes the size of the print. As for crispness or sharpness, which is the most critical factor for the eyes, it depends on the manufacturer of the display, and it can vary widely. Unfortunately you gotta live with a display for a while to find out if your eyes like it. Bummer.
I had a special pair of specs for computer work once. I wonder what happened to them. I didn’t like it, although it sounds nice. Your mileage may vary.
And don’t call my li’l TP screen awful! It’s the sharpest screen I have ever seen.
Alas I am compelled to join this family chat, but haven’t read the article yet - just the snippet. Linda and Dad, you could do what I do and buy several different glasses for different uses. I favor the 1.50 reading glasses and now I can’t live without them. I have several in various spots so as not to be without: purse, living room, bedroom, work cubicle. I’m *this* close to getting one of those awful chains to keep them around my neck. Please stop me! But they keep getting misplaced and they are no a fixture on my head in between reading.
I love the feel of the book in my hand, but am eagerly awaiting the time to purchase an e-book reader, when I’m satisfied of the price and selection.
As for reading the laptop screen, I have no satisfactory solution - just lots of eyestrain and headaches!!