networked paper book
What kind of sense does it make to evolve the
network book simply by amputating the functionality of the paper book? Has it ever occurred to authoring software developers that there may have been times in the past when authors and readers interacted? Everything is born digital now, its just that some books grow up to be paper.
***“just follow the dollars”
Those interested in the future of the paper book should consider the growth rate of Amazon (double digits last four years and 18% 04-05) and the
performance of Lightning Source print.
***“the future of the book is the blurb.” Marshall McLuhan
“What makes each new medium different, then, is the specific way it commends to our attention the prior media that it may encompass.”
Paul Levinson,
Today paper books are no less e-books, than screen drawn books. They are born digital, edited, distributed, manufactured, selected and delivered digitally. The fact they are called ìbooks on demandî appears an irrelevant classification until you realize that they are e-books demanded in paper format. There are also intermediate, electronically stored states of books, euphemistically termed e-books that will actually be progressively resolved into paper print.
Still other genres, like the airline directory or commonplace book, have transended their paper formats.
Marshall McLuhan said that any new medium is built around old media and these layers of encapsulation go all the way back to thought itself. That McLuhen’s laws of media were pronounced prior to the emergence of the Internet makes them even more convincing today. Paul Levinson has provided a fascinating exposition of this continuing relevance in his book; digital mcluhan.