17.369 books and their openings

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk)
Date: Sat Nov 01 2003 - 02:39:49 EST

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 369.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                       www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                            www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                         Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu

       [1] From: Patrick T Rourke <ptrourke@methymna.com> (25)
             Subject: books and their openings

       [2] From: Michael Hart <hart@beryl.ils.unc.edu> (34)
             Subject: Re: 17.366 new books; books and their openings

    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 07:05:20 +0000
             From: Patrick T Rourke <ptrourke@methymna.com>
             Subject: books and their openings

    >Observations like Norman Hinton's in Humanist 17.361 I think we should take
    >seriously, and not just because in this case I agree with his preference
    >for the printed codex when reading in a sustained way.

    For readability, it's impossible to beat a 6 x 8 x 1 in. codex with boards
    - for instance, the I Tatti library books.

    I wouldn't have put the "search inside the book" feature into the Amazon
    basic search by default. Some things are just obvious, like not bringing a
    pitcher back in the seventh inning after he's struggled in the eighth, and
    not complicating your basic search functions at an online store in a way
    that will return a larger number of irrelevant results to users who don't
    choose to use the complex search functions.

    >Is it not less than helpful to promote a "one size fits all" approach to
    >the reading, say, of (a) a poem by Seamus Heaney, (b) a novel by Toni
    >Morrison, (c) a write-up of research results from a high-energy physics
    >project, (d) a scholarly monograph in the history of ideas, (e) a book
    >review, (f) a survey of current work in cognitive science? (One might add
    >the books listed in the previous note :-)

    It's hard to promote a "one size fits all" approach to the same work in
    different contexts and with different aims. For a lexicon, electronic
    delivery is far more useful than for a poem. Ideally, I'd rather read
    Station Island in codex than on the screen. But if I were trying to find
    Heaney's line "the English language belongs to us now," and didn't know it
    was from Station Island, the electronic version would be far more helpful
    than any index. Is it my imagination, or is the printed concordance
    largely dead?

    Patrick Rourke

    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 07:05:44 +0000
             From: Michael Hart <hart@beryl.ils.unc.edu>
             Subject: Re: 17.366 new books; books and their openings

    My apologies for not including this yesterday.

    A few more words about setting up for eBook reading:

    In addition, there are many more variables in modern lighting than most
    people ever consider. A quick trip or call to a lighting store finds:

    1.
    Bulbs with increased persistence = higher persistence, which do not
    interfere with the refresh rates of monitors.

    2.
    Bulbs with a variety of spectrum types.

        A.
        If I am using fluroescent lights, I get wide spectrum.
        Some are expensive, but GE F4OPL/AQ is a real bargain,
        and the ones above me here last for years, 24/7. This
        works particulaly well with the green letters [above].

        B.
        There are also a wider variety of incandescent lights
        than one might suspect, also having wide persistence,
        or decreased flicker. However, GE Soft White is fine
        and available nearly everywhere.

    3.
    Obviously there are multitudes of light fixtures, lamps,
    chandeliers, etc. Some people like multiple bulbs, and
    some like single bulbs. . .it's worth the effort to put
    in a little time finding out what's best for you.

    Thanks!!!

    So Nice To Hear From You!

    Michael

    As of October 31,
    ~10,175+ FreeBooks at:
    http://gutenberg.net

    Michael S. Hart
    <hart@pobox.com>
    Project Gutenberg
    Executive Coordinator
    "*Internet User ~#100*"



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