UK Daily Telegraph "Ebooks will make authors soulless, just like their product"

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

"Ebooks will make authors soulless, just like their product"

Thought I would point out the irony of the medium used for that message...along those lines, where is my hand-tipped sheepskin scroll delivered via messenger instead? Heck, better yet passed verbally to us rather than a cold soul-stealing computer much less a world wide network of the very same computers.



I say bring back post card chess matches!! Heck with these computer online matches!!

[HansTWN]

Similar arguments were made for the superiority of horse buggies when cars started to become popular. 20 years from now pbooks will be museum pieces. "Warmer"?? Well, if you throw them into the fireplace! That person hasn't heard of a cover?

[ahi]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well, since the pBook only crowd will all be dead, eBooks will flourish. Works for me.

There's something all your less than 5 sentence posts have in common, JSWolf.

I'll let you guess what it is though.

- Ahi

[ardeegee]

He's not too fond of this whole "internet" thing, either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Keen

Sounds like he and Ray Bradbury would get along...

[ahi]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

He's not too fond of this whole "internet" thing, either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Keen

Sounds like he and Ray Bradbury would get along...

No righteous God-fearing man ought openly countenance the tubes of moral decay!

- Ahi

[hal_9000]

its his opinion (traditions books = good, new ereaders = bad) and he's entitled to it.

however, his opinion is rooted in a deep-seated fear beyond the disappearance of the book. in fact, it is a ever-present anxiety that "i am in danger, things are changing too fast. things need to slow down for me to be okay."

when you stand back, his attitude is simply silly: he is holding an Iphone, a cell phone device which arguably (according to his logic) has eroded the family cohesive unit, and the traditional telephone. heck, you could even use his logic to argue that telephones have destroyed the traditional FEELING and EXPERIENCE of writing a letter to a friend...who does this anymore?? but we're doing ok, aren't we?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I am a little speechless about this to be honest. Text is text, and the ebook devices offer more ways to invest yourself in the text by marking your favourite passages with notes, flipping to a particular favourite section in seconds.

Yes, a book has some text but that that is not all it has. I do not really get people that do not see that a physical book is an object that has more properties than that it contains text. It seems so obvious to me that it is more than text.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

No, actually they are. By extension, only those writers who submit their work on paper (using de-souled trees, which are converted into souled books) send out books that already have a soul.

I thought it was the writers who wrote their works on the bottom of their shoes?

[ahi]

Originally Posted by hal_9000

but we're doing ok, aren't we?

That's a very subjective question.

We definitely still are--and that is an accomplishment in and of itself. However there are many legitimate reasons to question whether we are well.

- Ahi

[ahi]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, a book has some text but that that is not all it has. I do not really get people that do not see that a physical book is an object that has more properties than that it contains text. It seems so obvious to me that it is more than text.

Typography and pages are the past, man! And once we are rid of those, all a book has is text.

- Ahi

[tompe]

Originally Posted by ahi

Typography and pages are the past, man! And once we are rid of those, all a book has is text.

I was not thinking about typography. The cover of a book is for me an integral part of the book for example. Also the properties that you can lend a book to a friend is for me an integral part of what a book is and influences how I look at the physical object.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by tompe

I was not thinking about typography. The cover of a book is for me an integral part of the book for example. Also the properties that you can lend a book to a friend is for me an integral part of what a book is and influences how I look at the physical object.

Is there a "narrows eyes" smiley?

The cover's present-day degree of relevance is a rather recent thing, it seems to me. Far less fundamental than pages and typography.

But I agree about the lending out part. Though, to be frank, those of us whose morality is not a slave to the propaganda campaigns of multi-million dollar media associations, should not find sharing our eBooks all that difficult.

- Ahi

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by ahi

But I agree about the lending out part. Though, to be frank, those of us whose morality is not a slave to the propaganda campaigns of multi-million dollar media associations, should not find sharing our eBooks all that difficult.

Well said.

[hal_9000]

Originally Posted by ahi

That's a very subjective question.

We definitely still are--and that is an accomplishment in and of itself. However there are many legitimate reasons to question whether we are well.

- Ahi

the context of the comment "we're doing ok" was intended to contrast with the apocalyptic fears held by many.

that aside, generally, i agree with you.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

He's not too fond of this whole "internet" thing, either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Keen

Sounds like he and Ray Bradbury would get along...

Not to mention Harlan Ellison.

But there's a difference between Bradbury, Ellison and this twit - they both have a successful career in writing* and also dislike the internet, he just dislikes the internet.

(*Although ironically, both would do very well to put their short stories online for sale seperately, see Eric Flint's comments years ago in the Baen Free Library)