Sunday Book Thread

Sorry for the tardy book thread today.

I'm afraid that today's book thread will be both late and lame: I've been terribly busy with work this past week, so I haven't had any time for recreational reading. In what few moments I've been able to spare, I've been working on my vast backlog of as-yet-unread books.

I did come across a thought-provoking article entitled "The Future of Books". I think it's obvious that what we mean when we say "book" is going to change a lot in the next decade or so -- it's already changed a lot. I don't necessarily agree with the future this article foresees (mostly because the future always plays out in ways that people don't expect), but it's food for thought.

I know these changes bother a lot of people, especially those (like me) who like the physical manifestation of a book: the feel of an actual paper book in the hand. But on balance I think that most of the changes I've seen so far are positive ones, particularly in the power the new publishing model brings to writers and readers both.

posted by Monty at 12:00 PM

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