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Our Bookless Future

claremontreviewofbooks.com

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Re: Our Bookless Future

#81

Post by GarrisonPrime »

dntbnmpls wrote: post #60
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #41

This is really missing the point, IMO. The difference between paper print vs digital "print" is not the issue. The problem is more that TV, movies, social media and YT have created a post-literate culture where the primary model of communication is visual and emotional, not textual and abstracted. That culture is extroverted rather than introverted, geared towards triggering simplistic emotional responses rather than…

> The problem is more that TV, movies, social media and YT have created a post-literate culture where the primary model of communication is visual and emotional, not textual and abstracted. Simply not true. There is more writing in the last year ( digital and print ) than there was in all human history prior the 2019. Each movie now creates countless textual/abstract comments, posts, essays, analysis, etc. > That cul…

More words are written, but many of them are worthless drivel.

Re: Our Bookless Future

#83

Post by frosted-flakes »

ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #76
lenkite wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is simple conditioning. There are many people like me who learn better from ebooks, online-papers and pdf's rather than dead-tree books. We can annotate, attach notes, add/remove highlights and most importantly: search without needing a painful index and simultaneously study 2 or more books on the same subject with little trouble in shifting context. With paper books, all this is very painful - too muc…

I've found all of these things to be unhelpful compared to just having a notebook next to my book, the added writing down of information helps me retain information better. I question the benefit of search beyond finding a sentence or two. Most large ideas require more than a sentence or two to explain something, and ignoring the context before and after could limit my understanding.

In any case, most substantial non-fiction books have both a table of contents and an index.

Re: Our Bookless Future

#84

Post by jrockway »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #41

This is really missing the point, IMO. The difference between paper print vs digital "print" is not the issue. The problem is more that TV, movies, social media and YT have created a post-literate culture where the primary model of communication is visual and emotional, not textual and abstracted. That culture is extroverted rather than introverted, geared towards triggering simplistic emotional responses rather than…

What I think is interesting about YouTube is how it provides money and an audience for content creators. I generally prefer reading to watching videos, because I can read faster than I can listen. But people make videos because they get 1 cent per view (or whatever) and because viewers of other videos will be pushed in their direction. There is just no other platform that does anything like that. Text ads on text content don't seem to pay very well, and nobody has made a platform like YouTube for authors. (Medium was supposed to be this, but I've never been encouraged to spend much time on Medium. There is no recommendation, so you don't get "lost" there like you might on YouTube or even Wikipedia.)

As for books, they require a large investment with a minimal chance of returns. Nobody recommends your book. There is no way to have advertisers sponsor your book. So to write a book, you need to secure financing and build a bespoke marketing campaign to make a profit. That is just too hard, so people make videos instead, because the financial aspect and finding an audience takes care of itself and the creator can focus on content. (Of course, there is still plenty of randomness; lots of great channels with 3 subscribers and 10 views because the recommendation algorithm never found them. But losing the recommendation lottery is a lot different than not having anything at all. So people keep trying, and I think a lot of good channels do get discovered.)

Re: Our Bookless Future

#85

Post by RickJWagner »

Timely article for me. I'm getting ready to move, and have been giving books to Goodwill and throwing some away. (I doubt even Goodwill have takers for Access 2 or VB 3 books.)

I really treasure books, but I'm not finding not so much as I did in the past.

Re: Our Bookless Future

#86

Post by ghaff »

jrockway wrote: post #84
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #41

This is really missing the point, IMO. The difference between paper print vs digital "print" is not the issue. The problem is more that TV, movies, social media and YT have created a post-literate culture where the primary model of communication is visual and emotional, not textual and abstracted. That culture is extroverted rather than introverted, geared towards triggering simplistic emotional responses rather than…

What I think is interesting about YouTube is how it provides money and an audience for content creators. I generally prefer reading to watching videos, because I can read faster than I can listen. But people make videos because they get 1 cent per view (or whatever) and because viewers of other videos will be pushed in their direction. There is just no other platform that does anything like that. Text ads on text con…

I think you may be overestimating the ease with which people can make videos, post them to YouTube, and have the money roll in. The relatively few who are really successful mostly had to/have to work pretty hard to create and promote their content. And there's still a huge luck of the draw ("lots of great channels with 3 subscribers and 10 views").

As for books, it really depends on what your goals are. No, you're very unlikely to end up making a good living off of it. But, for example, if you're in technology, having a book or two to your name can be enormously helpful to your professional profile. I've certainly gotten opportunities by being an author. Even if I've just basically made beer money, it's been a very good payback.

Re: Our Bookless Future

#87

Post by atfzl »

zby wrote: post #53
burlesona wrote: post #28

A lot of comments are debating the important of physical reading versus screen reading. I think that’s actually missing the point. > “Behind our screens, at work and at home, we have sutured the temporal segments of our days so as to switch our attention from one task or one source of stimulation to another. We cannot but be changed.” This part rings true for me. Last summer I read Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” and then…

There is yet another thing about that quote. When I was still a programmer often the best ideas came when I had lunch break or a tea break or waking to work, etc. Our mind needs free time to make the deep connections. What exactly that 'free time' means is a bit elusive - sometimes playing simple games like tetris or minesweeper would work (or work as a step into the right state of mind), but I think that it needs to…

This is exactly what is taught in https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

Re: Our Bookless Future

#88

Post by dr_zoidberg »

sq_ wrote: post #49
lenkite wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is simple conditioning. There are many people like me who learn better from ebooks, online-papers and pdf's rather than dead-tree books. We can annotate, attach notes, add/remove highlights and most importantly: search without needing a painful index and simultaneously study 2 or more books on the same subject with little trouble in shifting context. With paper books, all this is very painful - too muc…

I don't disagree that it could be conditioning. You make really good points about the benefits of doing things digitally. At some point I really need to spend a few months going all-in on doing it digitally and see if I can make it work for me. Definitely an area where everyone works differently and it takes serious effort to figure out what's best for you personally.

I think there's a bit of a problem when directly taking content thought for a specific medium, like physical books, and transporting it unchanged to another media, like ebooks.

Quick example: when you're reading a book, you have always two pages available to yourself to read. When you read an ebook, you have one, or part of one page on the screent at a time. That doesn't lend itself to going back and re-reading. A physical book has the chance to keep our attention on a larger scale than an ebook.

But lets twist that example. When I was in primary school, one of my brightest classmates had a severely impaired vision. He'd had to practically stick his face into a book or sheet of paper to read. Probably a large screen with adjustable fonts, and good contrast, would help him read.

I think we need to find a new balance to how we consume written media. But I wouldn't cry that books are disappearing, rather I think "old books" do not adjust so well to screens, and that "screen books" lend themselves to ways that old-written-media couldn't do. We need a new balance to get the best from both worlds, and have an improved medium to read from.

Re: Our Bookless Future

#89

Post by burlesona »

stevenkkim wrote: post #34
burlesona wrote: post #28

A lot of comments are debating the important of physical reading versus screen reading. I think that’s actually missing the point. > “Behind our screens, at work and at home, we have sutured the temporal segments of our days so as to switch our attention from one task or one source of stimulation to another. We cannot but be changed.” This part rings true for me. Last summer I read Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” and then…

I agree with your points about distraction, and I think "Deep Work" is a critically important book. That said, it's easier said than done. I only have one iPad and I do use it for many things including work, and it is shared with family members. That makes it full of distractions. I have thought about getting a second iPad dedicated to reading, but since you can't uninstall Safari, I feel I'm going to end up getting…

I want to second the sibling comment about screen time. I used this to “remove” mail and safari from my phone for a long time, and found that it completely changed the way I use the phone. It’s pretty easy to go to settings and toggle allowed apps, so I didn’t think it would work, but what I found is the added step of having to toggle safari on before I could use it meant I would mindlessly unlock my phone, find nothing to tap on, and then think “oh yeah, I don’t really want to mindlessly surf the web right now.”

Re: Our Bookless Future

#90

Post by jrockway »

ghaff wrote: post #86
jrockway wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I think is interesting about YouTube is how it provides money and an audience for content creators. I generally prefer reading to watching videos, because I can read faster than I can listen. But people make videos because they get 1 cent per view (or whatever) and because viewers of other videos will be pushed in their direction. There is just no other platform that does anything like that. Text ads on text con…

I think you may be overestimating the ease with which people can make videos, post them to YouTube, and have the money roll in. The relatively few who are really successful mostly had to/have to work pretty hard to create and promote their content. And there's still a huge luck of the draw ("lots of great channels with 3 subscribers and 10 views"). As for books, it really depends on what your goals are. No, you're ve…

Not overestimating the ease at which one can "make it", but the infrastructure exists to make it. That is lacking for other forms of media, which is why people aren't doing them anymore.
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