Thanks for the transscript. Let's take it a bit at a time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
"If you had to make a list of all the good things in the world, books would be right up there near the top. Someone did a great thing when they invented books, one way or another books have been around for a long time now to. I don't know who invented the printed word, but you'd have to put it ahead of things like the airplane or jelly doughnuts.
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It would have been nice if he'd actually had someone do some research on when the printed word and books were first produced, but I don't think anyone here would disagree with his sentiments here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
I have a friend Peter Asnouse <SP> who publishes books and Peter told me that what they call e-books, electronic books are now selling better than paper back books, ha ha I doubt it, but thats what Peter says, and he's in the business.
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He's right to be dubious of this claim. Amazon have said that they sold more ebooks than paperbacks recently, but that is only Amazon sales. Currently far more paperbacks than ebooks are sold.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
He makes it sound as if every book will be published electronically soon and be read using some sort of an electronic device,
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His meaning is unclear here. He seems to be worrying that
only ebooks will be published soon, which is unlikely to be the case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
I'm not interested in having my books on an electronic device, I want them in books, I want my words in books, I like having these books behind me.
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Again, it's not quite clear what he means here. I think he means not only books he has written himself, but also books he buys and reads.
Whichever interpretation, it's clear that he doesn't think he'll be comfortable changing over to an ereader.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
So I asked another friend to show me his e-reader, he told me that you can carry over 3500 books in just this one little package.
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But he is open-minded enough to actually go and look at the new devices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
My books have always been important to me, not just the I've written, but any book I own, I can't imagine not being able to pick up a book and thumb through it.
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Again, he expresses his comfort with his current reading patterns, and is dubious that ereaders will be as useful to him. And it's true that you can't "thumb through" an ebook on current ebook readers, as you can with a paper book.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
One of the first books I wrote, a long time ago, was called "The Fortunes of War", pretty expensive then, seven dollars and fifty cents. Now you can get it free as an e-book. Not much in that for me.
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It was published in 1962 and doesn't seem to have been republished since, but the copyright was renewed in 1990, and so it is still in copyright. So he has authorised the production and distribution of his first published book as a free ebook. Pretty good going, if you ask me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
My friend said that e-readers will eventually make books extinct, I hope that doesn't include authors."
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I think we can all agree with this too.
Summary: He doesn't think ebooks and ereaders are for him, but he's still found out about them, looked at ereaders, and got his first published book re-published as a free ebook.
That sounds like the actions of a pretty good chap, to me. Who knows? If he starts using an ebook reader, he might find he likes it. He doesn't seem to be totally opposed to the idea.