E-Reader Emissions

Yet another reason to shop at secondhand bookstores.

Via Slate

In (More) Defense of Marginalia

In February I wrote a short defense of marginalia. To me, marginalia makes used books more interesting and borrowed books more personal (let me be clear I don't write in books I borrow - I am referring to my own books that I borrow out, or books I borrow from others who have written their own annotations). It marks ownership and reveals reader's nuances. It's also a way of connecting and responding to the author - alive or dead.

Recently I stumbled across an article in New York Times Magazine that made me quite happy: "What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text", in which Sam Anderson writes a longer, much more eloquent defense of marginalia,

This wasn’t exactly radical behavior — marking up books, I’m pretty sure, is one of the Seven Undying Cornerstones of Highly Effective College Studying. But it quickly began to feel, for me, like something more intense: a way to not just passively read but to fully enter a text, to collaborate with it, to mingle with an author on some kind of primary textual plane.

Then he touches on a ereader fantasy that I found quite interesting. With the advent of ereaders, we have a way of gathering the marginalia that is found written in physical books, most notably the best and most intelligent marginalia written by famous authors and literary critics, and offering the readers an option of viewing this marginalia on their ereader. In short, the ability to read notes from "history's most interesting book markers". He calls this a sort of "readerly utopia" and I couldn't agree more. Amazon has already got something in the works that will enable public note sharing on its Kindle, which may suggest Anderson's fantasy isn't so distant.

For those of you that abhor marginalia (I remember quite a few of you from my last defense) rest assured this feature wouldn't affect your reading experience. As Anderson explains,

I understand the objection, but in the world of e-books, marginalia would be purely value-added, appearing and disappearing at the touch of a button. It would be like the option of watching a film with the directors’ commentary — a nice bonus but also easy to ignore. And it would allow a whole new wave of readers to discover the pleasure of the words in the margins.

Now that people, that would give me reason enough to buy an ereader.

The Future of Bookshelves

By Jeff Koterba via The Huffington Post

Penguin's iMagineering

Did I mention how much I want an iPad?


It's also nice to see a publisher embracing new platforms rather than simply reacting to them.

All These New Platforms - I Can't Keep Up!

"Publishing is turning into a high-speed spectator sport, and the major houses (let alone the small ones) are really poorly resourced to fight fires on all fronts and innovate at the same time." - Peter Collingridge

Barnes and Noble nook Commercial

I've got mixed feelings about e-readers. I've always been an I-want-to-touch, hold, read, and-love-tangible-books type of girl. And then I went and swooned over the iPad the first time I saw it but told myself it was ok - I didn't like it because it was an e-reader, I liked it because it was so much more than that. (Not to mention it's like a great big version of my beloved iPhone and a smaller version of my even more beloved MacBook.) So, the universe was still intact; I didn't like nor want an e-reader (because an iPad isn't just an e-reader) and I still wanted to touch and hold real books.

And then I saw this commercial - the first commercial for Barnes and Noble's nook. I am starting to doubt whether or not I have any bibliophilic integrity or if I am just a victim of a genius marketing scheme because surprise surprise; I want a nook. Kudos to the Barnes and Noble marketing department.

Promoting Reading?

I'm not sure if apps like this will promote reading or if they will distract children from reading the actual text.

One Big Anagram

This video makes me smile. Watch it in full.