Legi Ergo Sum: Ongoing Thoughts About the Future of the Book

Here at DITHOB we've pondered the future of books -- we know folks will always read, it is simply a question of format. For example, we asked what will be the future of the book reading/book signing ? Will the physical tome remain as a collectible artifact, sort of like making an appearance on the NY Times website or blog, and also making it into the NY Times daily paper (since the two are not congruent)? Will their be some evolution of the author's electronic signature that will pulse, neon-like, in the corner of your e-reader? More here

SO it was with great interest that we read critic Dwight Garner's wry and interesting essay in last week's NYT Sunday Review about modern reading habits in the era of the electric book. Mr. Garner considers the future of the paperbook and causes this reader to wax nostalgic about the charms of the book: "You can’t read an e-book in the tub. You can’t fling one across the room, aiming, as Mark Twain liked to do, at a cat. And e-books will not furnish a room." He also mentions "The one bit of verse that charmed me, when read on the iPad, was Clive James’s brilliant and witty “The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered.” This poem forces you to wonder: What will remainders look like in our digital future? Where’s the 99-cents bin going to be? " More here

At DITHOB, we say Legi Ergo Sum - I read, therefore I am...

-Anthony Matteo Napoli