Two piece of info caught my attention. One is "Internet Archive starts backing up digital books on paper" ( http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/internet-archive-backs-up-digital-books-on-paper.ars ) and the other is from amazon that it ventures into publishing, not only online self publishing ebooks, but PRINT industry.
Well, does it mean there is nothing really can replace print books - that ancient old format, not yet, or never will? Digital archives, unfortunately, need backup, in case power surge, in case digital format is wrong, then at least, there are papers. How ironic is that!
Amazon knows there will always be a market for print books. So it steps in, bit by bit. Some has concerned that allowing one industry take over everything, online and print, will damage competition. For me I'm more than happy to see that print books are not dead.
Everything exists for reasons, so print books.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
What I have been reading
I've just finished reading "Lovesong' by Alex Miller.
It's a book about love, about loneliness, about human fragility, about a type of love transcends normal ordinary life.When John and Sabiha get married, they are actually longing for very different things; for John is to take his exotic north African wife to return to his home town Melbourne. But for Sabiha is to have a baby girl whom she has dreamed since her childhood. There is no equal love that on the same level in bonding them. Therefore loneliness is eternal and it leads tragedy inevitably.
The language of this book is very lyric and beautiful. But the old writer Ken, is not necessary to be there, I believe. The main storyline could be more lucid and seamless. Ken and his story with his daughter doesn't enhance the lovesong.
The other book is a collection of essays by Milan Kundera "Encounter'. The author talks about literature, classic writers, music. I like the first essay on Francis Bacon. Kundera interprets Bacon's painting, often 'everything in painting that is not the painter's own discovery, his fresh contribution ,his originality. ' It is for the others to discovery what behind those horrifying faces.
'The face,' Kundera says,
'the face that harbors "that treasure, that nugget of gold, that hidden diamond" that is the infinitely fragile self shivering in a body;
'the face I gaze upon to seek in it a reason for living the "senseless accident" that is life.'
So what happens in John and Sabiha's life, a senseless accident that changes their lives forever. Surely there are something more behind John and Sobiha's story and for readers to unveil, just like Bacon's paintings.
It's a book about love, about loneliness, about human fragility, about a type of love transcends normal ordinary life.When John and Sabiha get married, they are actually longing for very different things; for John is to take his exotic north African wife to return to his home town Melbourne. But for Sabiha is to have a baby girl whom she has dreamed since her childhood. There is no equal love that on the same level in bonding them. Therefore loneliness is eternal and it leads tragedy inevitably.
The language of this book is very lyric and beautiful. But the old writer Ken, is not necessary to be there, I believe. The main storyline could be more lucid and seamless. Ken and his story with his daughter doesn't enhance the lovesong.
The other book is a collection of essays by Milan Kundera "Encounter'. The author talks about literature, classic writers, music. I like the first essay on Francis Bacon. Kundera interprets Bacon's painting, often 'everything in painting that is not the painter's own discovery, his fresh contribution ,his originality. ' It is for the others to discovery what behind those horrifying faces.
'The face,' Kundera says,
'the face that harbors "that treasure, that nugget of gold, that hidden diamond" that is the infinitely fragile self shivering in a body;
'the face I gaze upon to seek in it a reason for living the "senseless accident" that is life.'
So what happens in John and Sabiha's life, a senseless accident that changes their lives forever. Surely there are something more behind John and Sobiha's story and for readers to unveil, just like Bacon's paintings.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Books that printed but not digitised
I never believe that print books will be one day out of date, not when ebooks started to prevail and sold more than print books on Amazon, not when Boaders bursted, not when Sydney Uni and NSW Uni changed their university libraries into mess digital lounge.
Of course I admit that print books look like it's been losing ground gradually. However, human beings are not stupid. The civilization, regardless western or eastern, native or foreign, will be carried out by all means, including printed words, literature and illustrations. So the sliding towards ebooks will eventually halt at somewhere. Human beings a lot wiser than we realise.
Yes, technologies advance from time to time. Up to now, a single device can carry hundreds even thousand books. That's great. But how long can we preserve all those digital formats? One thing is for sure, printing, is the only format, doesn't require electricity power, nor a device, for reading. I had a CD ROM which was bought 10 years ago, with 10 years worth of a particular journal on it. But it's no longer readable because the old OS for opening it, no longer existed. So how can we so sure that one day there will be no print books around?
Digitising books is not a bad thing. It increases ways of info access dramatically. But print books will always co-exist alongside of ebooks, I'm quite positive about it. So I remain optimistic and hopeful.
Of course I admit that print books look like it's been losing ground gradually. However, human beings are not stupid. The civilization, regardless western or eastern, native or foreign, will be carried out by all means, including printed words, literature and illustrations. So the sliding towards ebooks will eventually halt at somewhere. Human beings a lot wiser than we realise.
Yes, technologies advance from time to time. Up to now, a single device can carry hundreds even thousand books. That's great. But how long can we preserve all those digital formats? One thing is for sure, printing, is the only format, doesn't require electricity power, nor a device, for reading. I had a CD ROM which was bought 10 years ago, with 10 years worth of a particular journal on it. But it's no longer readable because the old OS for opening it, no longer existed. So how can we so sure that one day there will be no print books around?
Digitising books is not a bad thing. It increases ways of info access dramatically. But print books will always co-exist alongside of ebooks, I'm quite positive about it. So I remain optimistic and hopeful.
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