That's the title of a seminar that took place yesterday at the London Book Fair.Tania Kindersley has the recap over at the Guardian. Her aptly titled story "The Death of the Book, Again" conveys the almost monotonous battle of print vs. digital that has been hovering over the book industry for years. As Kindersley says "It is an immutable law that the Death of the Book must be debated at least once a year". Actually once a year would be refreshing. The drone seems constant nowadays."The old pro-book arguments are so rehearsed as to fade almost to background noise".Feeding off...
The E-Book Takes Another Hit. Time For a Name Change?
The e-book has lost another round in it's epic battle to overtake its archenemy, the printed book.Computerworld has included the e-book on its list of "The 21 Biggest Technology Flops" of all time.This is their take:"The idea is attractive because, theoretically, e-book technology allows you to load many books and periodicals on a reasonably small handheld device, making it easier to travel with lots of reading matter. Also, e-books are easily searchable, another huge advantage over paper books.However, e-books are much in need of standardization. Specifically, the number of potential formats for e-books remains huge." Over 20 exist today.Much like...
Becoming Part of the Book
Ko-Sin Printing of Tokyo has created a process for authors to "add a more personal touch to their printed works by using ink that includes their DNA"They hope the "process will appeal to autobiographers who want to add value to their work by including their DNA, or to people who wish to insert the DNA of beloved pets into printed materials".They have successfully printed some "self-published autobiographies whose title pages are printed with ink that includes the author’s DNA". Talk about a new high in vanity publishing.The DNA can also be extracted from the printed page. Try that with an...
The Typewriter Lives
"The typewriter was invented at least fifty-two times, as one tinkerer after another groped toward a usable design. One early writing mechanism looks like a birthday cake, another like a pinball machine."From Joan Acocella's entertaining review of Darren Wershler-Henry's new book “The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting” in the New Yorker. The review is titled "The Typing Life: How Writer's Used to Write" It is worth the click over.Some nuggets:-Mark Twain was the first important writer to deliver a typewritten manuscript.-Jack Kerouac could type a hundred words a minute.-There was a silent typewriter that hit the market in...
Keeping Up With the Gates Foundation at the Library
I had a look at the 8 minute video/infomercial The Gates Foundation has released to help library advocates make the case for funding in their communities.The video is an accessory to the announcement by the Gates Foundation at the ALA mid-winter meeting this past January in Seattle that pledged 5 more years of support so "public libraries serving low-income communities continue to provide free, high-quality computer and Internet services and training to their communities".As advertised the video has a strong focus on minority and low income library users who are in some ways becoming dependent on library technologies to do...