Search Results for: e-books

I was wavering yesterday on whether to predict the book’s demise in 20 or 30 years. I decided to go for it, and chose 20. What the heck, let’s be controversial! Scott Esposito called me on it right away. I … Continue reading →

If:book and the folks at the Institute for the Future of the Book have done a lot of hard thinking about what books will look like in future. Dozens of litblogs offer book reviews, forums for discussing books, and pithy … Continue reading →

Okay, I’m starting to get really sick of the repeated dronings from all around the Internet about how computers are such a different medium from X, Y, or Z. My particular area of expertise is books. I’ve worked in the … Continue reading →

Yesterday I discussed Umberto Eco’s lecture on the future of books from the perspective of whether e-books can replace traditional books. I think Eco rightly distinguishes between “books to read” and “books to consult,” with electronic books to consult likely … Continue reading →

Michael Lew points to this transcript of a lecture given by Umberto Eco on the future of books a couple years back. He makes some important observations about e-books: [B]y inserting a micro- cassette in the book’s spine or by … Continue reading →

There are bookstores that sell books by the inch. In the 19th century, many households had faux bookcases, with no books, just the spines. Even today, I have an antique room divider painted with trompe l’oeil books. The New York … Continue reading →

There’s a great new organization and blog forming, focused on the “Future of the Book.” It’s a fabulously interesting question, of course, to ponder what’s going to happen to books in the digital age, and it’s a great idea to … Continue reading →

Yesterday I wrote about what e-books will not be. Today I’m going to write about what they might be. Before we get to that, let’s think more about what they won’t be. They won’t be movies. The book fills a … Continue reading →

There’s a really great article over at Gizmodo about e-books. I think it’s completely wrong, but it’s great to see that someone’s been doing some serious thinking about e-books. Why is it wrong? Here’s a five-second summary of the article: … Continue reading →

The news a couple weeks ago about the release of Sony’s new ebook reader has aroused only a touch of speculation. Instead of focusing, like I did, on how the technology will transform publishing (if it has any effect at … Continue reading →

This article describes Sony’s latest effort to produce a truly usable e-book. Based on the optimistic marketing-ese in the article, it sounds like they finally might have done it. The reader uses new e-paper technology, where no energy is required … Continue reading →