tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post944684900269715583..comments2024-03-26T17:54:54.592+01:00Comments on Speculiction...: Review of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-21513094373905448352013-10-18T19:23:44.857+02:002013-10-18T19:23:44.857+02:00An interesting paradox, indeed! :)An interesting paradox, indeed! :)Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796098208589965362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-44907800803090892632013-10-16T15:01:56.913+02:002013-10-16T15:01:56.913+02:00Ha! I didn't mean to push 451 that far back! I...Ha! I didn't mean to push <i>451</i> that far back! I wonder, though, whether Bradbury's strong dislike of e-books and e-readers had less to do with his love of physicality (the look, feel, smell, and weight of paper books), and more to do with a realization that the digital future of books made his most famous work highly anachronistic.Tom Heringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12350251957104818496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-11707471666395999502013-10-16T08:30:51.169+02:002013-10-16T08:30:51.169+02:00In one paragraph you've pushed Fahrenheit 451 ...In one paragraph you've pushed <i>Fahrenheit 451</i> back to the Medieval ages. Undoubtedly today's forms of media are plastic to the point of extreme relativity. In fact, we've reached a point that everyone is a natural skeptic. Is that really Tom Cruise, or did they just digitally superimpose his face over a stunt double's body? Are these documents real, or has some detailed person forged them in Adobe? Did my computer slow down just now because my processor is working overtime, or did someone just tap into my machine? And indeed the answer could be yes or no to these questions. Years ago, anyone who was paranoid about such issues was simply a conspiracy theorist. Now they have a legitimate concern.<br /><br />Is the ebook I'm reading what the author typed into a file, or did Winston Smith alter it before it arrived in my inbox?Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796098208589965362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-75270311490072851482013-10-15T15:50:37.114+02:002013-10-15T15:50:37.114+02:00One thing to keep in mind about future governments...One thing to keep in mind about future governments vs. books. Bradbury was wrong. Governments won't need to burn books. It will prove easier for them to alter, censor, regulate, or eliminate e-texts than to round up and burn paper texts. Will private e-publishing companies cooperate with governments? Ask law enforcement or the NSA about IPs, phone companies, hardware manufacturers, etc. Will private e-publishing and phone or internet sharing prove an effective defense? I doubt it. Phones and the internet, too, can be controlled. The freedom of the virtual world is far more vulnerable than the freedom of the physical world.Tom Heringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12350251957104818496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-24685455197455779492013-10-15T09:28:29.125+02:002013-10-15T09:28:29.125+02:00While I share your love of the written word on pap...While I share your love of the written word on paper, I would respectfully disagree. Love it or hate it, there are more books available now than ever before. All you have to do is copy/paste your epub and voila, another book is born. I also agree it is sad that the livelihood for secondhand bookshop owners is fading, and will almost certainly disappear someday. And indeed, perhaps thousands if not millions of books will end up in a landfill someday. But do you think the book, in virtual or paper form, will ever wholly disappear? <br /><br />I think that in my lifetime I will see the death of the paper book. I'm not happy about this, but I understand this is the direction of society and technology, and as long as books--old and new--remain available in some form or another, I will adapt, just as those secondhand bookshop owners now need to sell online. For me, the real tragedy is that some books will be lost to time, i.e. not transferred to e-format. Otherwise, I believe some percentage of the population will always be reading and hungry for books in whatever form. The human brain is to imaginative for books to be lost - save government intervention <i>a la Fahrenheit 451</i>.<br /><br />But then again, perhaps I am too optimistic... :)Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796098208589965362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-33268638022062484192013-10-14T22:57:40.940+02:002013-10-14T22:57:40.940+02:00We don't need government to ban books. Most pe...We don't need government to ban books. Most people seem happy to rarely, if ever, read one. And a sizable minority is happy to see books as physical objects disappear altogether. With the closing of so many independent, secondhand bookstores - a trend that doesn't seem to be reversing - what's happening to tens of thousands of old books? Landfill. A world where you'll only find books in the homes of misfits and eccentrics doesn't seem like such a wild speculation anymore.Tom Heringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12350251957104818496noreply@blogger.com