"Having grown up as readers of the printed word (and possibly even scribblers in the margins), we may take for granted the processes involved in the traditional activity of reading - so let us remind ourselves. The printed word is presented to us in a linear way, with syntax supreme in conveying the sense of the words in their order. We read privately, mentally listening to the writers voice and translating the writers thoughts.
The book remains static, fixed; the reader journeys through it. Picking up the book in the first place entails an active persuit of understanding. Holding the book, we are aware of posterity and continuity. Knowing that the printed word is always edited, typeset and proof-read before it reaches us, we appreciate its literary authority. Having paid money for it (often), we have a sense of investment and a pride of ownership, not to mention a feeling of general virtue.
All these conditions for reading are overturned by the new technologies. Information is presented to us in a non-linear way, through an exponential series of lateral associations. The internet is a public 'space' which you visit, and even inhabit; its product is inherently impersonal and disembodied. Scrolling documents is the opposite of reading: your eyes remain static, while material roles past. Despite all opportunities to 'interact', we read material from the internet entirely passively because all of the interesting associative thinking has already been done on our behalf.
Electronic media is intrinsically ephemeral, and are open to perpetual revision, and work quite strenuously against any sort of historical perception. The opposite of edited, the material on the internet is unmediated, except by the technology itself. And having no price, it has questionable value. Finally, you can't write comments in the margins of your screen to be discovered by another reader fifty years down the line."
Eats, Shoot and Leaves by Lynn Truss pg. 180-181 (Profile Books, 2003)
And the irony is... I've just quoted it on my Blog. Excellent book, a beautiful reminder that the English language can be subtle, eloquent and full of pitfalls. I heartily recommend it to everyone.
I'm finally back to reading one book at a time again (few! I was reading three, I was in a very fickle mood). The five people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom is an intriguing story about an elderly man who dies and discovers that heaven is five people explaining the meaning of your life. Three chapters in, I'm loving it, there's a very hopeful tone. I'll let you know my thoughts when I finish.