I don't like reading books on a computer screen.. apart from the eye strain involved.. I simply love the luxury of sitting back with a well thumbed old paperback. There is that absolute joy of reading which I associate with everything that comes with reading. Back in the old days, this used to be an afternoon trip to Gariahat, or a day trip to College street (or more usually, bunking some classes while at Presi) and rummaging through second hand bookstores. The world's best second hand bookstores are at College Street, Calcutta, especially that amazing stretch, between the College Street Market at one end, and the Ashutosh Prangan of Calcutta University at the other end. For me, that has been my Kabah, and my Benares. That was a holy pilgrimage which I made every day for three glorious years, and I hope to go back to at some point in my life. But these days, it is merely an occasional trip to the District Library, or more normally, an online search on the amazing library at the University which does the job. I must say, for all the convenience, the zero cost, there is something missing.
Amazon plans to offer digital books... a sort of hybrid laptop like device which will mimic a real book, except that the content will be electronic, stored in a disk and displayed on a screen. And this device will communicate with e-resources, and 'update automatically'. Very convenient. But also somewhat scary.
Now, any vision of an Orwellian future scares me as much as anyone else. The fact is that the ubiquitous nature of mass electronic media has made the world a much smaller place, but also a much easier place to police. In this context, I would like to think that the battle between the forces of stability (governments of every description) and the dissenting folks should always be a finely balanced one... if it tilts too far in the direction of anarchy, then we have a breakdown of that which seems to stifle.. and if it falls too far in the other direction, then, why, we have 1984.. all over again. It is in this fine balance that society can live, breathe and even move its arms and legs a little. It is against the overall matrix of homogeneity that the radicals can think of themselves as such.. for if the radicals take the day: they will, in their own time become the same sated bourgeoisie they despise so much.
Hence, while I think that the juggernaut of technical innovation cannot be stopped, it should be met by equal counter-innovation which prevents any form of control over content from becoming absolute. Hence, I raise a toast to the makers of the iPhone, OS X, Vista and other beautiful innovations. and also to the people who spend their time hacking the guts out of them. Finally, here is what some people have to say about this new 'book'.
Amazon plans to offer digital books... a sort of hybrid laptop like device which will mimic a real book, except that the content will be electronic, stored in a disk and displayed on a screen. And this device will communicate with e-resources, and 'update automatically'. Very convenient. But also somewhat scary.
Now, any vision of an Orwellian future scares me as much as anyone else. The fact is that the ubiquitous nature of mass electronic media has made the world a much smaller place, but also a much easier place to police. In this context, I would like to think that the battle between the forces of stability (governments of every description) and the dissenting folks should always be a finely balanced one... if it tilts too far in the direction of anarchy, then we have a breakdown of that which seems to stifle.. and if it falls too far in the other direction, then, why, we have 1984.. all over again. It is in this fine balance that society can live, breathe and even move its arms and legs a little. It is against the overall matrix of homogeneity that the radicals can think of themselves as such.. for if the radicals take the day: they will, in their own time become the same sated bourgeoisie they despise so much.
Hence, while I think that the juggernaut of technical innovation cannot be stopped, it should be met by equal counter-innovation which prevents any form of control over content from becoming absolute. Hence, I raise a toast to the makers of the iPhone, OS X, Vista and other beautiful innovations. and also to the people who spend their time hacking the guts out of them. Finally, here is what some people have to say about this new 'book'.
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