Writing and books and the future
August 16th 2010 20:34
I've just received a little note from Orble to tell me that this blog has been inactive for 55 days. 55! It seems extraordinary, but lately things have been very busy on the writing front in ways that haven't allowed me to do as much blogging here or on Work Report as I'd like. One of these is a University paper I'm doing online, and which seems to require an inordinate amount of reading (much of it self-imposed, I admit) and the other is the writing of a script for a musical, which has been in my brain day and night for quite some tiem.
Anyway, rather than have this blog vanish off the face of the earth, or have it taken over by some more enthusiastic person, or continuing to treat like a child who's left home and never rings, I'm giving it a little time this morning.
A couple of things of interest relating to the changing face of the book world.
An author, Ray Connelly, is doing a 'Dickens' - publishing his latest book chapter by chapter. However, unlike Dickens, who published his work in a monthly magazine on paper, Connelly's book is going out online. You can read what's already available by going to The Sandman site.
The idea that the book in printed form is going the way of the dodo is being bandied about the Net on every hand. I suspect that there will always be books, because they're part of our heritage as a civilisation, if for no other reason. However Mike Shatzkin thinks otherwise. He even overcomes the excuse that you can't read an ebook in the bath - well, he tries to. (I get the impression that he's not really a book in the bath reader.)
He says that in five years half of our reading will be done on some sort of device (though the problem to me seems to be that there are just far too many devices out there, and some of us are probably waiting until the dust clears).
His final paragraph states: The printed book will not “die” in our lifetimes: there are too many of them already around for that. And I don’t even think the ebook will be “the dominant commercial form” (Negroponte’s position) in as short a time as five years. But it almost surely will in ten and I’d say that in no more than twenty the person choosing to read a printed book will not be unheard of or unknown, but will definitely qualify as “eccentric.”
I don't know if I'll be around long enough to see whether his prophecy proves right, but he has some good points to make in the rest of his article.
Anyway, rather than have this blog vanish off the face of the earth, or have it taken over by some more enthusiastic person, or continuing to treat like a child who's left home and never rings, I'm giving it a little time this morning.
A couple of things of interest relating to the changing face of the book world.
An author, Ray Connelly, is doing a 'Dickens' - publishing his latest book chapter by chapter. However, unlike Dickens, who published his work in a monthly magazine on paper, Connelly's book is going out online. You can read what's already available by going to The Sandman site.
The idea that the book in printed form is going the way of the dodo is being bandied about the Net on every hand. I suspect that there will always be books, because they're part of our heritage as a civilisation, if for no other reason. However Mike Shatzkin thinks otherwise. He even overcomes the excuse that you can't read an ebook in the bath - well, he tries to. (I get the impression that he's not really a book in the bath reader.)
He says that in five years half of our reading will be done on some sort of device (though the problem to me seems to be that there are just far too many devices out there, and some of us are probably waiting until the dust clears).
His final paragraph states: The printed book will not “die” in our lifetimes: there are too many of them already around for that. And I don’t even think the ebook will be “the dominant commercial form” (Negroponte’s position) in as short a time as five years. But it almost surely will in ten and I’d say that in no more than twenty the person choosing to read a printed book will not be unheard of or unknown, but will definitely qualify as “eccentric.”
I don't know if I'll be around long enough to see whether his prophecy proves right, but he has some good points to make in the rest of his article.
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