The Box it Came In
Like that whiskey bottle, a compelling package can make you want things you don’t.
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Posts Tagged: e-books
Book Industry Forecast
Who doesn’t want to validate their decision to purchase an e-book by seeing it in physical form at a bookstore first?
At Melville House, Dennis Johnson discusses how the rapid demise of Barnes & Noble is slowly sucking the life out of the e-book industry.
...moreA Library Without Books
This should be interesting: a judge in San Antonio, Texas, is opening a library without books.
Or rather, there will be books, but only digital ones, which patrons can read on e-readers in the library or at home.
Since “[t]he community around the proposed location currently has no public library and is home to a lower income population,” a few e-books could go a long way, publishing industry controversy notwithstanding.
...moreE-Books: “the book-cover equivalent of burqas”
In the Chicago Tribune, Christopher Borrelli bemoans the rise of e-books for taking away “the genuine soul” that “the randomness and variety and art work of a tangible book being cradled by a commuter” lends to the city.
Plus, it seriously hinders his ability to “eavesdrop on what you’re reading.”
Check out the article and the cool reader map of the Chicago L here.
...moreE-book Recommendations
HTML Giant gives us the scoop on seven e-books “you won’t be sorry you downloaded.” First up is Rumpus contributor Joshuah Bearman’s Baghdad Country Club. (Did you see our excerpt?)
...moreAvoiding Amazon in 2012
“Many people assume that if you want e-books, you’ve got to buy them from Amazon or another online retailer. They’re wrong about that. You most certainly can purchase e-books from your local independent bookstore. I’ve done it myself several times since I made my resolution to avoid buying them from Amazon if at all possible.”
If you’re in the market for e-books, yet share both our disgust at Amazon’s practices and preference for supporting local booksellers, Laura Miller’s Salon article is a helpful read.
...moreHypertext and The Novel
The past decade has ushered in e-books and e-readers, so why did hypertext fiction stall after its initial hype in the 90s? This article investigates that question, building a case for renewed vows between hypertext and novel.
“Just as the novel taught us how to be individuals, 300 years ago, by giving us a space in which to be alone, but not too alone — a space in which to be alone with a book — so hypertext fiction may let us try on new, non-linear identities, without dissolving us entirely into the web.
...moreSoundtracks for Books
Booktrack, a New York start-up, is weaving noises and music into e-books. According to their website, the idea behind synchronizing soundtracks to existing e-books, is to “dramatically boost the reader’s imagination and engagement.”
To hear a demo you can check out this piece, which wonders whether readers will find the format distracting, while pointing out that that the concept seems to be gaining ground in the wider e-book realm:
“E-books with added interactive features and soundtracks may be the format’s next step.
...moreWe Are All Fetishizing
Should the backlash (by some) against the move towards e-readers and digitized literature be kept…behind closed doors? An opinion piece in the NYT is convinced that arguments-by prominent politicians, historians, librarians–that digitization cheapens the experience of reading, don’t really file under elitism, or mere stubbornness in the face of transformative tech overload, but fetishism.
...moreWhat Would A Kid Say About Go the Fuck to Sleep?
Seems like big kids and parents alike are getting a lot of writing mileage out of Go the Fuck to Sleep, Adam Mansbach’s playfully honest plea to his daughter to expedite her bedtime rituals.
The book and its hype have generated all kinds of discussion–on parenting, on the popularity of e-books, on the genre of “children’s books for adults.” Particularly interesting are the questions of whether the book would have been such a hit had it been written by a woman, considering the different scrutiny burdening moms who are learning to be perfect on the job.
...moreE-Publishers’ Guides to Writing Books
Ever heard of this guy?
Chances are you haven’t, but one peek at that link will show you just how much you’re missing out on. Manuel Ortiz Braschi is one of the most prolific self-publishers on Amazon’s Kindle site and, as author of more than 3,000 e-books on topics ranging from herb gardens to potty training, seems a veritable 21st century renaissance man.
...moreJohn Locke Remix
There’s a new John Locke who is less known for his philosophy on natural rights, and is more famous for his e-book success.
In fact, he is “the first self-published author to sell a million Kindle e-books,” which makes him one of eight authors to attain such a title.
...moreBattling E-Pirates
What happens when a philosophy professor takes on e-piracy? He discovers that it’s not quite as cut and dried as he first thought.
Let me be clear–the issue of whether or not his work was pirated is clear. It unquestionably was.
...more5 for Print
Wired has 5 reasons why E-books cannot replace print.
Besides the tech-related qualms (like books being divided by app, not allowing readers to see all their books in one place), problems like “an unfinished e-book isn’t a constant reminder to finish reading it,” make the list.
...moreWhy They Cried
These stories by Jim Hanas are about something important: how much suffering arises in the gap between our public identities and whatever kernel of self is left inside.
...moreBooks, Bodies And Why We Should Bother
“If we can get them right, books are luminous versions of our ideas, bound by narrative structure so that others can encounter those better, smarter versions of us on the page or screen.
Books make the case for us, for the identity of the individual as an embodiment of thinking in the world.
...moreNotes on E-books and Readers
The big news this week was the iPad announcement, including the tech-world’s dismissal of it. (Fraser Speirs addresses that nicely.) But there’s a lot more happening in the world of e-books.
For example, NASA just opened an e-book section and its first offering is a history of the X-15 hypersonic test aircraft.
...morePoetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
First thing: Chinese poet Lu Xiaobo has been sentenced to eleven years in prison. There isn’t much people can do, but you can register your opinion on this via the PEN American Center website.
Mark Scroggins has inspired me to keep better track of how much poetry I read.
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