7.0041 E-Books (1/27)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 7 Jun 1993 21:11:06 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0041. Monday, 7 Jun 1993.
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 93 8:06:35 EDT
From: mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca (W. McCarty)
Subject: books new and old
Allow me to draw your attention to a small article in PC Magazine for
25 May 1993, vol. 12, nr. 10, the "Pipeline" column by a senior
editor, Robin Raskin, entitled "Read Any Good Disks?" I delight in the
intelligence shown here.
Ms. Raskin discusses her recent experiences, "voraciously reading books
on disks in an attempt to answer the question, `Can the disk replace
the book?'" She notes the ones she likes, and the advantages of
e-books we have all heard about before -- `nonlinear' searching,
marking places, making e-notes, cutting and pasting -- and one that
recalls the pleasures of childhood, reading in the dark. "The
disadvantages and discomforts are still many," she declares, then goes
on to remark,
In the end I suspect electronic books will find their own voice
and in the process become very different entities. Content will
transform to suit the medium.... In the meantime, when it comes time
to relax, I'm back to flipping paper pages.
Once we start thinking along these lines, I'm suggesting, we'll stop
wasting time trying to make spanners into hammers and get to the
serious and enjoyable work of discovering what the new toys are really
good for.
Willard McCarty