Archive for the 'Books' Category

Taking Stock of Books

Published
by
Jarred
on August 4, 2008
in Books and Business
. 8 Comments

this book makes a lot of cents

[Update: By posting this, I neither recommend nor endorse Tao Lin's stock proposal below.  Anyone considering this investment should independently research the viability and legality of the proposal, and should probably consult a financial advisor and/or a lawyer.  I endorse the theoretical exploration of the idea that Tao Lin has seized upon -- nothing more, nothing less.]

We seem to have some sort of obsession with the future of books here at Tropophilia.  Maybe because books are living examples of the way an entire industry part of the human experience is being challenged by the nascent digital era.  Whatever it is, we seem to cover books and reading fairly frequently on this blog.  Here’s another post to add to the list.

Taylor pointed me to this quick blurb on the Freakonomics blog yesterday:

When rogue author Tao Lin set out to write his second novel, he realized he would need to raise some capital to sustain himself. So he has decided to sell shares in 60 percent of the U.S. royalties for his forthcoming, as-yet-untitled book.

Not only will the scheme defray his financial risk if the book does poorly, but Lin hopes that shareholders will promote his book out of self-interest.

Hi-o!  What?!  Who does this 25 year old think he is?  Well, I’ll tell you what I think he is.  I think he’s a genius.

Continue reading ‘Taking Stock of Books’

Kindled

Published
by
Jarred
on June 24, 2008
in Books, Gadgets and Reading
. 3 Comments

My birthday was last week, though I unfortunately had to spend the majority of the day taking an evil standardized test.  How’s that for bad timing?  My parents were gracious and awesome enough to offer me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday, which we’ve written about some before.  Now, after about a week of fairly regular first-hand use, I’m ready to offer some more thoughts.

When I first turned it on and downloaded a free sample chapter, the thing that most struck me about the Kindle was that, man… this thing is slow.  Every button press is followed by at least a one second pause — a considerable delay in today’s high tech world.  For a device that promises to usher in the next evolution of reading, I was perplexed at first.  Where’s the gee-whiz slickness, the instant page-turns, the animation?  (Amazon’s explains the slight delays by pointing to the E-Ink display, which at its current stage of development requires a little longer to render).

Ironically enough, however, I’ve almost come to appreciate the delay.  Just as the E-Ink display mimics the ocular experience of the printed book, so do these delays mimic the time required to turn a page.  It’s a subtle reminder when you continue to the next page that it is just that — a new page.  You don’t scroll to the next screen on the Kindle; the scoll wheel is only used to access the menu and other features.  You have to take the time to hit a button and wait as the screen momentarily flashes dark, and then rekindles (ha) with the next segment of text.  That brief second gives you a chance to process the page you just read, to look out the window for a moment, to readjust the device in your hands.  Looking back at the past week, I’m not sure now that I’d want it any other way.

Continue reading ‘Kindled’

Amazon CEO Says Kindle Will Salvage Long-Form Reading

Published
by
Jarred
on May 3, 2008
in Books, Business, Consumer Behavior, Gadgets and Reading
. 0 Comments

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, recently sent out his annual letter to shareholders [warning: PDF file]. I’m not a shareholder [yet], but the letter is currently linked on the Amazon homepage.

Bezos writes almost exclusively about the Kindle, the e-reader created and sold by Amazon that seems to be constantly going out-of-stock. While the whole letter is interesting and informative, I found that one paragraph in particular clarified something about the Kindle that I hadn’t though about before: the Kindle not as the harbinger of informational ADD, but as the savior of long-form reading as we know it. I especially like the term “information snacking,” and you’ll probably see me use it more and more here on the blog.

Here’s the paragraph in its entirety*, and I’ll leave it at that for you to ponder and comment on:

We humans co-evolve with our tools. We change our tools, and then our tools change us. Writing, invented thousands of years ago, is a grand whopper of a tool, and I have no doubt that it changed us dramatically. Five hundred years ago, Gutenberg’s invention led to a significant step-change in the cost of books. Physical books ushered in a new way of collaborating and learning.

Lately, networked tools such as desktop computers, laptops, cell phones and PDAs have changed us too. They’ve shifted us more toward information snacking, and I would argue toward shorter attention spans. I value my BlackBerry—I’m convinced it makes me more productive—but I don’t want to read a three-hundred-page document on it. Nor do I want to read something hundreds of pages long on my desktop computer or my laptop.

As I’ve already mentioned in this letter, people do more of what’s convenient and friction-free. If our tools make information snacking easier, we’ll shift more toward information snacking and away from long-form reading. Kindle is purpose-built for long-form reading. We hope Kindle and its successors may gradually and incrementally move us over years into a world with longer spans of attention, providing a counterbalance to the recent proliferation of info-snacking tools.

I realize my tone here tends toward the missionary, and I can assure you it’s heartfelt. It’s also not unique to me but is shared by a large group of folks here. I’m glad about that because missionaries build better products. I’ll also point out that, while I’m convinced books are on the verge of being improved upon, Amazon has no sinecure as that agent. It will happen, but if we don’t execute well, it will be done by others.

* I broke the paragraph up into four pieces to make it easier on the eyes (and brain).

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user etech.

New York Times to Steve Jobs: “You Are Wrong”

Published
by
Jarred
on February 21, 2008
in Books, Business, Consumer Behavior and Culture
. 1 Comment

Timothy Egan of the New York Times tackles the statement Steve Jobs made last month about the decline of reading.  I covered Jobs’ quote here, and a lively debate ensued in the comments.  It’s been our most popular post by far, probably because what El Jobso said is pretty controversial.

You should definitely read his whole piece, but here are some of Egan’s money quotes:

Reading is something else, an engagement of the imagination with life experience. It’s fad-resistant, precisely because human beings are hard-wired for story, and intrinsically curious. Reading is not about product.

Next year, business may be down, and several publishers may merge, and certainly more of the poor, beloved independent bookstores will cling to life support. Steve Jobs will stroll into a room filled with breathless acolytes and pull a must-have trick from his bag. We’ll oohh and ahhhh about it, then go back to lives where a good book still holds more power than anything with a screen. Power to transport the reader to another world. Power to get inside somebody’s else mind, to live their story, to be moved.

Last year, a survey for the Associated Press found that a much smaller number — 27 percent — had not read a book lately, which means nearly three-in-four have read a book. [...]  The more compelling statistic was rarely mentioned in news accounts of the A.P. story: the survey found that another 27 percent of Americans had read 15 or more books a year. That report documents a national celebration.

What About the Future of BookSTORES?

Published
by
Taylor
on February 8, 2008
in Books, Business and Consumer Behavior
. 2 Comments

bookstore.jpgSo a while back we had a rousing discussion about the future of the book. Spawned by Steve Jobs’ comment that books (and technologies like the Kindle) are increasingly irrelevant since, he claims, “people don’t read anymore.” Well, an offshoot and related issue is: what use do we have for brick-and-mortar bookstores? I’m intrigued by this post from Ezra Klein, and I think I sympathize.

“I love bookstores, and spend a significant fraction of my time in them. When I go to Politics and Prose, I purchase books I don’t need, partially out of a desire to simply donate to the store’s continued operation. I keep trying to figure out a reason I believe bookstores will survive into the future, but it seems pretty clear that books will eventually be as mercilessly digitized as music, and most bookstores will close, just as most CD stores were shuttered long ago.”

I too love bookstores and, while I’m loathe to browse a clothing store or local mall, can spend hours looking around a good bookstore. But, inevitably, my frugality takes hold and unless I’m desperate for a new novel I’ll take mental note of a few titles that look interesting (after checking out a chapter or two in the store)…and then order them online from home, saving money and often finding a used copy. Online purveyors are simply more convenient, offer more options for saving money, and tap into a nearly limitless inventory that even my local Borders or Barnes & Noble can’t match, much less the locally-owned mom & pop shop. So, is there a point in clinging to bookstores? Might we be better off taking our own books (or Kindle!) to the local coffee shop, along with a laptop to browse new titles? What is it about bookstores–besides the rare occasion when a book is needed IMMEDIATELY and it happens to be in stock within a reasonable drive–that makes me feel some sort of sentimentality towards their very existence? I love what bookstores offer to me, but my way of using them is simply not profitable for them (apart from the $4 latte I’ll occasionally buy). As our generation grows older and a greater proportion of book buyers move online, how is this business sustainable? What are your thoughts?

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user polifemus.