Is this the end for books?

[DonaldL.]

Is this the end for books?

Do you know what wilfing is? Have you heard of keitai shosetsus? Sam Leith on what to expect if the Kindle really does kill off the printed book

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

As one of the commenters pointed out, "The Luddites are out in force."

[HomeInMyShoes]

Ugh, the comments are irritating. People don't understand the difference between format changes for marketing and preservation of documents.

[DiapDealer]

Is this the end for books?

In short... yes.
As of midnight tonight, books will be eliminated entirely. They've had a nice run, though, so don't be too sad.

[Ryvyan]

Yup I'm going to pull out my entire bookshelf and burn all the books.

...

There was this comment about books being items of sentiment to many lunatics. I think the world needs to stop hoarding and start sharing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DonaldL.

Is this the end for books?

The author has lost all respect by only mentioning the Kindle. There are lots of other readers out there other then the Kindle.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ryvyan

Yup I'm going to pull out my entire bookshelf and burn all the books.

...

There was this comment about books being items of sentiment to many lunatics. I think the world needs to stop hoarding and start sharing.

You are under arrest for the murder of the pBook.

[elcreative]

Yes, lets burn all the books from the past... great idea oh, hang on, just a minute, a rough estimate on my book collection puts around half (some 4.5K titles) as not available in eFormat... never mind, there's plenty of other things out there who needs 'em... we can all get one of those newfangled electronic thingies, an eReader or Kindle as generally known... anyone want to buy an obvious non-eReader such as a Sony or a tablet now we know Kindles are the only eReader...

[Ryvyan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You are under arrest for the murder of the pBook.

If you had any idea what titles are on there, you might change your opinion and call me wise.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Ryvyan

If you had any idea what titles are on there, you might change your opinion and call me wise.

Do they have settings like Silistra and Gor?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Most of the article is sensationalist, and therefore dismissible.

The only point worth discussing is the author's contention that computer-inspired multitasking is, in fact, a drain on intelligence, suggesting people cannot "focus" on important items for long in the computer environment.

As usual, he is basing an argument on a new behavior that many people haven't yet mastered, so he is assuming the current state of some people represent the future state of all people.

Further, this isn't an argument against ebooks per se, but against computer use in general (and still based on an erroneous assumption).

So, if we remove the inaccurate opinions about focus and multitasking, there is really nothing of substance in the article at all.

[pilotbob]

I got bored reading that article so clicked on a flashing link to go somewhere more fun.

The problem is not my attention span, it is your boring article that is saying nothing new and piling speculation on top of speculation that is backed by speculation.

BOb

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

The only point worth discussing is the author's contention that computer-inspired multitasking is, in fact, a drain on intelligence.... As usual, he is basing an argument on a new behavior that many people haven't yet mastered, so he is assuming the current state of some people represent the future state of all people.

Actually, it's been demonstrated in several studies that multitasking most likely does degrade cognitive functioning.

Some of the smack talk is probably exaggerated, but I see no problems with the general premise that constantly switching your focus may be psychologically satisfying while degrading our ability to perform most types of cognitive tasks.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Actually, it's been demonstrated in several studies that multitasking most likely does degrade cognitive functioning.

Some of the smack talk is probably exaggerated, but I see no problems with the general premise that constantly switching your focus may be psychologically satisfying while degrading our ability to perform most types of cognitive tasks.

As much as the OS X Lion "full screen" mode has been denigrated it is really designed to be a "focus" mode. It is much different than maximizing a window on a PC. It removes the doc, the menu bar so you can focus on the one app, or job you are working on.

So, yes multi-tasking slows productivity due to the context switching overhead.. but it isn't computers that "cause it" they just allow it or make it easier.

I think this topic is quite covered in Covy's getting things done. Part of his system is organizing tasks so that you do all your like task together so you are context shifting less often. Do all your email, then do all your phone calls, then do your word processing, then your research, etc.

BOb

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ryvyan

If you had any idea what titles are on there, you might change your opinion and call me wise.

If you are disposing of A Passage to India, I'll let you off with a warning.