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

[Sparrow]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...r-product.html

The usual litany of reservations from a pbook fetishist - what will authors autograph for fans?

At least he calls them e-readers!.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

At least he calls them e-readers!.

Surely he means 'liseuse'?

[Bilbo1967]

Having now read the article I am now both outraged and encouraged.

Outraged, because its just a really poor piece of journalism. It knocks e-readers without ever making a cogent argument against them. Take for example this sentence from the article:

“Without books” Lillian told me, “I would die."

So what will happen to young women like Lillian when the e-reader replaces the book as the dominant vehicle for the distribution and sale of written texts?

Well, clearly, the answer is, if that ever happens, that she will still be reading books, but just on an e-reader! The author of this piece is either too lazy or too stupid to realise that the word 'books' as used by 'Lillian' actually means 'reading'.

Oh, and I'm encouraged because I always fancied being a journalist and now I know that it doesn't take any real skill or discernable intelligence I might just be able to do it

[poohbear_nc]

Wouldn't a better title be: Ebooks will make authors soulless, just like their publishers?

[K-Thom]

"But what the e-reader will do is replace the physical warmth of the paper book with the coldness of the digital version."

This sentence alone is worth reading the article!

"Something to be physically loved."

Now it gets a pathological twist.

I want young women like Lillian to wait in line for me to sign copies of my work.

Ah, got it! He's writing to attract some chicks!

"Like a character in a Stephanie Meyer fantasy, the e-book drains the blood from the physical text."

Okay, back to pathological ...

Fetishists are a sub-culture, and book-lovers are likely to become a part of it. Leatherbound books may someday have a double meaning, oh well ... anyone in for some book spanking?

"You wanna buy a book, son? Are ya older'n 21? Little pervert creep!"

[poohbear_nc]

"Like a character in a Stephanie Meyer fantasy, the e-book drains the blood from the physical text."

I, for one, have never woken up in the night to find my Kindle attached to my throat, or to my pbooks. But lately, it has been avoiding the sunlight.

[dmon65]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Fetishists are a sub-culture, and book-lovers are likely to become a part of it. Leatherbound books may someday have a double meaning, oh well ... anyone in for some book spanking?

"You wanna buy a book, son? Are ya older'n 21? Little pervert creep!"

The article was amusing, although no earth-shatteringly new arguments were offered. Heard them all before. Heard a version of them when folks (me) started turning papers for school that were generated via a word processor and computer instead of a typewriter.

But, the term "Leatherbound books" is forever gloriously warped for me now! Thanks K-Thom!

I'm now going to go look at my small collection of leather clad classics and giggle!

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

The author of this piece is either too lazy or too stupid

I vote for the latter.

Oh, and I'm encouraged because I always fancied being a journalist and now I know that it doesn't take any real skill or discernable intelligence I might just be able to do it

You're just realizing that now?

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Surely he means 'liseuse'?

No he bloody well doesn't.

That is such a horrible article, the crucial point of all books is for their content to be read, it doesn't matter whether its an ebook, paper or carved in stone as long as that happens.

[DixieGal]

Turning authors into soulless zombies. Bolt the exit from the Writers' Corner, try to keep 'em in there, noooooo don't eat my brains........

Wait, Montsmgs Enterprises, Ltd, may be behind all of this, him and his team of zombie lawyers....

[DixieGal]

Danged Gutenberg and his blasted moveable print, gonna send us all to heck by eventually making Bibles available to the unwashed masses so that they can make up their own minds......

[Superlucky]

I like that he refers to physical books as "warm". It reminds me of people I've met who hate CD's and talk about the "warmth" of vinyl.

The luddites can fill their homes with p-books, vinyl records and file storage cabinets. I would rather carry my library, music collection and files in my backpack. In the waiting room, they will be reading a Sports Illustrated from April 2006 and listening to muzak. I will be reading Dostoevsky and listening to Beethoven. Okay, I'll be reading Dan Brown and listening to Lady Gaga. Whatever.

[Crowl]

It just seems so odd to me that anyone could seriously claim that a digital version was somehow soulless compared with a paper version, surely it is down to the writer and the words he or she uses to give a work soul?

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by Crowl

It just seems so odd to me that anyone could seriously claim that a digital version was somehow soulless compared with a paper version, surely it is down to the writer and the words he or she uses to give a work soul?

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. All those other books are soulless [read: meritless] until they are printed.
Ergo it's the printing (and perhaps to a lesser extent typesetting) that gives those books their soul, not the authors. It's a really neat argument, though it might offend some writers (except, of course, the incomparable JKGrowling)..

[Crowl]

I went and looked at what the writer of the article had actually had published and the only thing mentioned is a book that just critcises free content on the web, so there's no wonder he considers writing to be soulless without the interaction of paper.