One of the most popular books for our CCN on-site presentations last year was The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr (New York: Norton, 2010). In that book, he discusses how the Internet tinkers with the brain, reamps its neural circuitry, and reprograms the memory. While the mind… Read More The Never-Finished Book: Problems with Perpetual In-Progress Revising
News Flash: You can get a free copy of The Myth of the Garage by Chip Heath and Dan Heath from the Kindle Store at Amazon. ———— This is really interesting. And I like it. And not just because it is free. I can’t begin to tell you how much I like reading on the… Read More The Ebook, The Myth of the Garage, by the Heath Brothers – For Free!
I have long been a basher of electronic book readers, such as the Kindle and Nook. I believe in traditional books, and in outlets that sell and distribute books in print. Books are symbolic, and when anyone stores them on a reader, this facet disappears. I have developed this argument in a previous blog post, and… Read More e-Books Have Limited Popularity in Colleges
I have never been on board with electronic books. I am not excited about any of the devices such as Kindle, Nook, or iPads. I like a book. I like to hold it, carry it, display it, and engage in conversations about it when others see what I am reading. I thought it was interesting in… Read More A Major Publisher Sees it My Way – Despite e-Books, Physical Books will Survive
I found Danny Heitman’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal about e-reading very interesting. His title was “What an E-Reader Can’t Download,” published on July 23-24 (p. A-11). In the article, he talks about the memories that are anchored as he scans the spines of the books on his living room shelf. For instance,… Read More Where Electronic Readers Fail
“It turns out, in the age of super-speed broadband we need dead trees to have living minds.” Johann Hari. ————— I have written earlier about my new found love of my iPad. It has exceeded my greatest expectations. I am reading many, many “samples” of books on both iBooks and Kindle apps. This practice, so… Read More “To Read, You Need Mental Silence Except For The Words” – Insight from Johann Hari on the Value of Reading, Especially Reading (Physical) Books
Last night, I curled up in bed, and read three sample downloads of books on my iPad. Two of them were business books: Little Things and The Corner Office. The music was playing, I learned a lot, and I loved the experience. I’m ready to weigh in… The iPad is the way to go for… Read More I’m A Convert – I’m Now Reading Books On My iPad, And Loving It
An increasing number of consumers now download and read books on electronic devices, such as the popular Kindle by Amazon, the Nook from Barnes and Noble, or the iPad from Apple. As you survey my blog posts, I have long been an opponent of these devices. I have previously argued why traditional books should be… Read More The Show-Stopper for the Kindle, Nook, and iPad
(personal note – I have taken a few days away from blogging – and from a whole lot of other stuff. I hope to be back in full swing in a day or two…) News item (Huffington Post): Bon Jovi rips Steve Jobs for killing the music industry… “God, it was a magical, magical time.… Read More Bon Jovi May Be Right About Steve Jobs – But Don’t Blame Steve Jobs
Here is some more ammunition for Kindle-bashers, coming from the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal on February 12-13, 2011. In the weekly Books section, Eric Ormsby writes that “books beget books – and sometimes writers are moved to pay tribute to the ones that formed them” (p. C7). His article points out that writers… Read More You Won’t Get Memories From a Kindle Like You Will From a Book
First Friday Book Synopsis 