‘Downloading Dickens: Inevitable, or a Fantasy?’
Does the above headline, from Richard Brookhiser’s elegant article in the New York Observer, strike you the same way it does me? I’m thinking: So is Project Gutenberg a fantasy? Blackmask? Manybooks.net? Like Jeffrey Young’s guest post in a ZDnet blog, the Brookhiser piece reflects the vast gap between us hardcore e-bookers and the rest of the cosmos. We’ll know that e-books have turned a corner when people focus less on the basics and more on issues such as the quality of the typography and the extent of interactivity within e-books. Alas, in LISNews, the reader comments on the Brookhiser article are yet more indications of all the work ahead for e-book proselytizers.
February 24th, 2006 at 5:36 am
After reading the good article, I do not think the author meant to imply that it is currently impossible to download Dickens; but rather, that downloading Dickens may be the norm one day. Hardly a courageous stand to take, but one that is natural in world that is not quite ready to believe that print may be supplanted by eprint.
February 24th, 2006 at 5:48 am
Well, Branko, you’re very welcome to interpret the article that way. I myself would have felt better about it if Richard Brookheiser had included links to Gutenberg and the like. Thanks. David
February 24th, 2006 at 6:10 am
Well, I sent him an e-mail about it, perhaps the author can shed some light himself.
February 24th, 2006 at 6:19 am
Great. I hope he discovers and has some nice things to say about PG and DP.
February 24th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Good grief, I’ve just finished Bleak House (on an iPaq) as downloaded from Project Gutenberg, and it’s the eighth book in my re-reading of Dickens project that I’ve read via PG and either the iPaq or the eBookWise 1150. So yes, I agree with David that the article should have dropped in a note about Gutenberg, etc.