Does anyone know of a please where they have the book so that you can read it from the computer. i can't seem to find it anywhere and i need it by thursday?

Some of the stories may be online somewhere, but as far as I know, no complete novel or story collection is.

Not to be glib, but would Mr. Bradbury support the idea of an on-line reading of his book?

Also, in a less glib manner, there is not an eye doctor in the country that endorses sustained reading at a computer monitor.

Frankly, much of my reading is done in the bathroom, so I'm not sure Mr. Bradbury would appreciate that, either.

How amusing..
I'm find out...to many...
that the computer which is to usher in a paperless society, makes more paper, by printing out a book, for instance, on the laser writer.
Keep those presses (laser writers) rolling...

I'm not sure the computer was ever designed to usher in a paperless society. I think it was designed to run more rapid calculations. The sad fact is that the proliferation of computers has significantly increased the use of paper. The factor of increase is geometric. Drafts can just be printed out, over and over again, with each revision. Multiple copies are printed for distribution that the mechanics of making copies made impossible. People print out things from the web that they throw away the next day -- just because they can.

Digital databases have not proven to provide long-term reliability. I have read where cities have scanned in entire histories, then destroyed the paper copies(too much space), and then later gone back to the digital sources and couldn't read them -- sometimes due to readers being unable to get at the data, and sometimes because the data is gone. The historical record is lost. Digital data is not truly permanent.

Besides, I could hardly stand to read Farenheit 451 without underlining or making notes in the margin. I like to lay on the grass and read, or sit on the floor and lean against a pillow. When I read aloud in class, I like to hold the book and pace back and forth in front of the room, and up and down the aisles -- difficult to do when dragging a computer around. (Dare I admit that the throne is conducive to balancing a book on one's lap? Why waste the time?) Even with a lap-top this is not convenient.

I think paper is here to stay, and I think the comfort of an old book will always be a part of the human condition. Pity the poor societies before mass printing. What the heck did they do to pass the time in the ol' outhouse?

I agree that paper will continue to be used far into the future. Paper books are unmatched for their portability, clarity and ease of use (at least presently).

I am fairly certain that at some point a type of 'digital paper' will replace organic. Imagine a material that looks, and feels almost exactly like ordinary paper but is instead a thin, flexible, digital screen that can store thousands of pages of print, illustrations, photos and video, visible from both sides. Multiple pages of this material could be manufactured in the form of a book, which could be read outside in the grass, carried around a classroom, or read on the toilet, if preferred. One book could hold hundreds of volumes, download the news (through wireless connection) or even be written in like a journal. Just a thought.

....and of course I can also imagine these 'books' offered for a very low price (or free), the unavoidable catch being that as you tried to read the book, advertisements would pop up on every other page. The subject of the stories, novels and other material that you selected to read would be wired to large databases which would aid in selecting the advertisements beamed to your book.

Oh no....

Interesting thoughts. The description of digital paper (above) is pretty interesting.

However,

(1) A book doesn't have to be downloaded from anything. It doesn't have to be connected to anything (whether via line connection or wireless). It is free-standing and self-sufficient.

(2) A book has no pop-up advertising. You pay for it and it is yours. (Or borrow it from the library!) You read, browse, touch, etc., with no "molestation" against your autonomy and enjoyment.

Cool.

Can't you just hear the advertisers? "Dispenses detailing Denham's Dandy Dentrifice drivel? Darn!"

To: dlowell_rb
From what I read of your description of digital paper, rolled up screen, volumes and volumes, etc. They are about there already. Cost is too enormous at this point. There was a detail of how this is all done couple years ago in some science magazine. And I read something last couple months, where this could also be applied in other ways, like you would have non stop action graphics on your T-shirt. And just think: A new generation will come around and think that even this wonderful marvel has been around since the beginning of time.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Dark:
Interesting thoughts. The description of digital paper (above) is pretty interesting.

However,

(1) A book doesn't have to be downloaded from anything. It doesn't have to be connected to anything (whether via line connection or wireless). It is free-standing and self-sufficient.

(2) A book has no pop-up advertising. You pay for it and it is yours. (Or borrow it from the library!) You read, browse, touch, etc., with no "molestation" against your autonomy and enjoyment.

Cool.

On target, as usual, Mr. Dark.

it wouldn't smell right.

You're right, I completely forgot about that.

Some might suggest I don't smell right. Perhaps that would explain my apparent preoccupation with outhouses and thrones?

I certainly hope not!

"I can't talk to the walls" is absolutely right about the smell. I love the smell of books. I used to purchase large-scale printing jobs, and loved the smell of being in press rooms and just hanging around those huge presses. The noise of the presses, the speed of the paper, and the smells of the inks and paper were a trip! There is something sacred about the printed word, and Bradbury -- at his best -- reminds us of why that is the case.

After reading the responses on 'digital paper' I couldn't help taking the idea a bit further.

I guess the point I really wanted to express was that the printed word (regardless of it's physical form) is the most powerful way to communicate ideas (letters, theories, stories etc.). And that most of us seem to prefer the form of ink on paper, and this may / will not be the method forever used.

This got me to thinking beyond 'digital paper'. What would it be like to have some molecular sized 'screens' placed beneath your eyelids, and have words scroll across the blackness of your closed eyes (imagine reading Mr. Bradbury's work that way!)?. Now, what if further 'advancements' allow words to be directly broadcast to your brain whenever you wished, and you could read them in whatever form you could visualize with your own imagination.

Now here is where my thoughts went out on limb (and please forgive me if this sounds quite foolish). What if we are someday able to bypass the words altogether (by recording the thoughts of writers with some machine) and their imagined stories could be shared with their 'readers' by the very thoughts, emotions, scenes, sounds and memories used by the story teller when the story was being created. It would be as if the scenes Mr. Bradbury pictured within his own imagination could be seen by us exactly as he pictured them in his own mind! All of the senses that he evokes mentally (and he puts down in wonderful words) could be shared in their exact form.

I wonder how this would change the art of story telling? With stories written by words we each have our own personal pictures of how Green Town looks (for example). Would we really want to see it EXACTLY as the writer imagined?