Daniel McCarthy finds reasons for optimism in the “death of the book” — the potential of the e-reader to rejuvenate the essay, and its lengthier, “Victorian,” versions in particular, as a literary art form. That old forms might find new life in the new media stands to reason, and maybe gives reason even for a techno-luddite like myself to look with a hopeful curiosity toward the future of the (e-)book.
J.L. Wall
J.L. Wall is a native Kentuckian in self-imposed exile to the Midwest, where he teaches writing to college students and over-analyzes Leonard Cohen lyrics.
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on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.He's been saying that sort of thing for years. Probably right about it too.
on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.Here's James Carville 's take. I found it hilarious and frankly, on point--assuming it's real. Still…
on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.The Tories in the UK got thrased because of inflation in July of 2024. Japan's Liberal Democratic Pa…
on I Told You Soand some picks that we knew were probably in the mix such as Tom Homan who, apparently, worked for O…
on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.Do you have a solid reference for exit poll results with demographic breakdowns. I'd like us to be o… on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.There's something to the inflation theory. There's also something against it. Namely, that it was do… on I Told You SoYes, Jaybird, and there were plenty of trade unionists who fled Italy when it was clear that Mussoli… on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.I take it that this means that their internal polling always had them within the margin of error and…
on I Told You SoWell, for *MY* take on Trump's picks, it seems like he has a bunch of wild cards in there that seem… on I Told You SoAlso: Why the hell do you think assassinating Trump would accomplish _anything_? What are you even t…
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on I Told You So on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead. on I Told You So on Open Mic for the week of 11/25/2024 on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead. on I Told You So on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead. on I Told You So
on I Told You So
on I Told You So on I Told You So on I Told You So on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead. on I Told You So
on I Told You So
Well, essays are what we do here, no?Report
Eh. Every time I write more than 500 words, someone somewhere complains about it.Report
Here’s something interesting I’ve found in my own personal experience: people in my grandparents’ age group read paper books; people in my parents’ age group are pretty excited about e-readers; people in my age group are not as thrilled with e-readers for some reason- about a third of my friends actually read that way; and almost none of my students will buy the e-reader versions of the books I assign, even though they’re cheaper than the paper ones. So, you know, maybe books will soon be dead. On the other hand, the local music stores here are selling more records than they have in years and I’ve been told those things were “dead” for thirty years now.Report
I think DRM is eating more seed corn than actually creating/protecting crops, if I may stretch an analogy.Report
DRMs are the big obstacle between myself and eBooks. But you know, I don’t think our view wins out. They seem to be getting the things with DRM that I thought they would have to go without DRM to get.Report
It’s probably because we’re all too used to thinking of technology as being wonky, flaky, unreliable crap that needs to be backed up in multiple locations at every opportunity. We’ve all seen wonderful plans and architectures fall over and go ffft, leaving only an occasional notice that a spammer sent you a message on Friendspace.
Older folks are used to technology being wonder whizbang stuff they see on TV. The idea of a little flat chunk of plastic that has every book ever written is the kind of thing that they’ve been promised for years. And the user interface is designed down to the point where you push the button and it goes; you don’t need to spend hours fiddling with it to get it to do what you want. So the inherent distrust of technology, bred by familiarity, just isn’t there.Report
e-books are like horses.
It used to be that everyone rode horses as a matter of course. That was just how you got from place to place.
Then there were cars. The first cars were cranky, unreliable, complex in operation, tremendously expensive, limited by design and technology and infrastructure. Only rich technophiles owned cars.
But as the technology and the infrastructure developed, and the rough parts of the design were smoothed out by evolution, suddenly cars became viable for the mass market.
And within a shockingly short period of time, we found that using horses as a form of transportation was a sign that you were either tremendously rich or shockingly poor. And then a few years after that even the poor could afford cars (or, at least, they could take the bus.) And now horses are a luxury item, an affectation–which is exactly where print books are going to go shortly.Report