Hi!

New guy here.

I've been reading Bradbury since I was a teenager and am now almost 30! (I also have a tattoo of the cover of Fahrenheit 451 on my ribs )

I am joining this board not only to find other Bradbury lovers, but also to pose a question.

I am writing a paper for a college class on how ebooks and ereaders are affecting our cognitive functions. As I was discussing this topic with a friend, she asked what I thought about ebooks, me being a Bradbury fan and all.

The specific question she raised was "If, in Fahrenheit 451, people stopped reading books to 'remain ignorantly happy' and television and new technologies were A cause of this, then why would you be against ereaders as more people are reading now because of these devices than ever before?"

I couldn't really answer her and I told her I would do some research So I'm asking you!

If technology is available to make people read more, then is it really that evil? Although the book and mortar stores, paper books, and real ink may soon disappear, creating a near 451 type society with no books at all, what's the damage if all those books are being read more and by more people because of technolgy?

At least they aren't watching the tube 24/7, she said.


Thanks!

Jeremy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: freeman0,

quote:

Originally posted by freeman0:
Hi!

New guy here.

I've been reading Bradbury since I was a teenager and am now almost 30! (I also have a tattoo of the cover of Fahrenheit 451 on my ribs )

I am joining this board not only to find other Bradbury lovers, but also to pose a question.

I am writing a paper for a college class on how ebooks and ereaders are affecting our cognitive functions. As I was discussing this topic with a friend, she asked what I thought about ebooks, me being a Bradbury fan and all.

The specific question she raised was "If, in Fahrenheit 451, people stopped reading books to 'remain ignorantly happy' and television and new technologies were A cause of this, then why would you be against ereaders as more people are reading now because of these devices than ever before?"

I couldn't really answer her and I told her I would do some research So I'm asking you!

If technology is available to make people read more, then is it really that evil? Although the book and mortar stores, paper books, and real ink may soon disappear, creating a near 451 type society with no books at all, what's the damage if all those books are being read more and by more people because of technolgy?

At least they aren't watching the tube 24/7, she said.


Thanks!

Jeremy

I equate eBooks to a digital grandfather clock. There is just something wrong with them.

Excellent question! I'm not sure that I accept part of the premise: what is the evidence that people are reading more? From what I have seen, the only people using Kindles etc are people who have always been big readers of books. I'm not convinced that a non-book-reader would want a Kindle.

Moving on from that, I think in the longer term, physical books will become quite marginal niche items. Human history has seen a series of shifts of medium for our storytelling. But we still carry on telling - and craving - stories. One of the "lessons" of F451 is that, ultimately, it is the survival of the STORY that is important: in F451 it is through a renewed oral tradition that the great texts will survive the destruction of civilisation. Physical books turn out to be a transient, convenient medium.

The rise of one medium, however, does not cause the sudden non-existence of another medium. Radio did not replace newspapers. Television did not replace radio. What happens is that a new medium may take over some of the functions of an earlier medium, but then the earlier medium changes and adapts, finding itself a new niche. The classic example is TV coming in, sweeping up drama, comedy and most other forms of entertainment - effectively doing radio, but doing it better than radio (in some respects) - causing radio to become something else: a non-stop jukebox, or a medium you can phone-in to and interact, something you can get traffic reports from, etc. So the Kindle (etc) will not cause the book to ceaseto exist, but it will force it into a different niche.

Last thought: none of the above has anything to do with our personal preferences, or a feeling that certain media work better for us on more than one level. For many of us, you still can't beat the physical presence of a book. Isaac Asimov once wrote an article describing the ideal piece of reading technology, how it would offer ease of reading, simple navigation, the ability to randomly leap forward or back to a different part of the story, allow indexing, low power consumption, portability. He said that such a marvel of technology is already with us. It's called: a book.

Painted cave messages, ancient scrolls, rolled up parchments, leather bound books, e-words...

The easier it gets, the lazier one becomes! Human nature.

I teach the generation (hs Eng) that is in the middle of this evolution. I once had kids reading books (on their own from the library) outside of the titles I had specifically assigned. This was the norm. Now, not so!

Anyone that may own this fficial%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D540%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1995&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=583&vpy=235&dur=144&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=132&ty=108&oei=oBBETanEOIbYgQed1ei3AQ&esq=5&page=6&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:80&biw=1024&bih=540" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/imgres?i...:80&biw=1024&bih=540 is considered a "geek."

So, where does that leave the rest of the all day button-pushers and fanatic twitterers and non-paper page turners, ages 8-28yrs!??

Ask Mr. Albert Brock("The Murderer"). Our home has been five years without television, no cells for our boys, reading as a family at night is standard operating procedure, and discussion around a table - though difficult at times, is what we expect.

Do the stories "The Pedestrian," "Usher II," "The Exiles," and most ominously "To the Chicago Abyss" ring some bells?

Read on, turn page, feel the texture of the binding, smell the paper, put that meaningful bookmark on the last page read before turning out the light and placing the book on the night stand. Sleep well.

Ah, another dinosaur...

"It's all Greek to me!" (...err, French.)

http://comedy.video.yahoo.com/?l=3774749&v=8702935

...and last, but not least...What in the world is this!?!?!
http://curledupwithabook.com/w...ds/2010/04/book.jpeg

quote:

Originally posted by fjp451:
...and last, but not least...What in the world is this!?!?!
http://curledupwithabook.com/w...ds/2010/04/book.jpeg

Nice title. Reminds me of T Bone Burnett's autograph.