Tuesday Morning LitLinks
Got a literary tattoo? Have it immortalized in a book.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has announced the acquisition of Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago’s new novel, The Elephant’s Journey.
Nicholas Baker recounts his experiences with the Kindle 2 for The New Yorker.
Publishers Weekly reports that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued its long-awaited statement of policy on the tracking labels required for all manufacturers of children’s products, but offers children’s book publishers some flexibility in how they comply.
A memoir from Mary Jo Buttafuoco? Really?
The Post-Intelligencer offers up some tasty French literary treats.
How sausage is made: the machinations behind bringing Michael Jackson’s memoir back from the dead.
Stephen King, adept at getting his writing out in a plethora of media, makes a stand for print.
Interesting insights into random readers: Forgotten Bookmarks
Today in Literature: On this day in 1655 writer Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, best known as the model for the hero of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play, died at the age of thirty-six.
AuthorScoop
July 29th, 2009 at 3:41 am
can you blog one day about my ideas on SCREENING versus reading. see blog. danny, fits in nicely with Nick baker’s NYer essay on Kindling…..
July 29th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Screening” is a good term for the vast literary shift about to wash over us…
SOME VOICES:
1.
“Dear Mr Bloom
I find the
distinction between reading and screening to be intriguing (and it
certainly gives us all pause to consider just what it is we’re doing
with our eyeballs these days!). ”
2.
“Screening, of course, is not a new term, but this might just be the
time that it catches on…
Screening is a clever and useful term capturing the fact that the
experience of reading on a screen is fundamentally different from reading
on paper. Not a priori worse or better; just different.
It is the right word for the moment in terms of drawing people’s
attention to the vast literary shift about to wash over us.”
3.
“There are many forms of reading. We already talk about skimming and
browsing, about being deeply engrossed in reading, and surface versus
reflective reading. I see no need for yet another term that is
dependent upon technology.
When I read deeply on my Kindle, I call it reading. It is no different
than when I read deeply with a book. In both cases, I want the
technology to disappear (paper or book reader) and to become engrossed
in the story or the ideas.
You suggest “screening.” I see no need for such a term.”
4.
” …I agree with some of your other correspondents. Reading is reading. We speak of dialing a phone even though we don’t use dials any longer. Screening already has another meaning as well. Screening” is an interesting idea, but it’s probably needed as much as if you were to say you “screened” television instead of “watching” it…”
5.
“Dear Mr Bloom, My wife and I may not always reply because of our busy schedule, but we are always happy to hear from you, as your email about SCREENING did what all good emails do — it provoked thought.”
6.
“Screening is not a new term, but this might just be the time that it catches on, given the imminent arrival of Apple’s iPad, and other devices. ”
7.
“Screening is a clever and useful term capturing the fact that the experience reading on a screen is fundamentally different from reading on paper. Not a priori worse or better; just different. Keep going in the direcetion you are going. Eventually, people will listen to you. Of course, screening has multiple meanings already. But your new way of putting it …is very interesting and it provokes thought. I assume that is your intention.”
8.
“Mr Bloom, ….My advice is to use and promote “screening” as a useful new term, but don’t get too attached to the idea. You merely took a pre-existing word and retooled it with a new definition, in terms of how humans now read texts on screens, from the Kindle to PDAs to iPhones. It’s not a neologism, as Alex Beam inferred in his Globe column. And it’s not a new coinage or a newly-minted word. You took the word screen, which is what we read on when he look at a computer or reading device and you added an ING ending to the verb, and you got screening. Nothing new here. But your point of view is refreshing and helps us see where we are headed. Your best position now is to lay low and let the VIP media wonks in the New York Times and Washington Post discuss the issue of screening versus reading, with quotes from top reseachers in the field. In that event, you will have played a nice minor role in this discussion, and for someone with no PHD or connections to anyone in academia, good for you! Sometimes new ideas and new viewpoints come from independent minds like yours. Who the hell are you, anways?”
9.
“You certainly are getting quite the range of opinions here between the 50 percent on one side and the 50 percent on the other re a new meaning for “screening” and a new paradigm for reading…Very interesting..”
January 28th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
agreed.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:46 am
yes, IPad, it does seem as if the term “screening” is taking on more importance now post iPad intro. Yes. agreed.
re
Screening” is a good term for the vast literary shift about to wash over us…
SOME VOICES:
1.
“Dear Mr Bloom
I find the
distinction between reading and screening to be intriguing (and it
certainly gives us all pause to consider just what it is we’re doing
with our eyeballs these days!). ”
2.
“Screening, of course, is not a new term, but this might just be the
time that it catches on…
Screening is a clever and useful term capturing the fact that the
experience of reading on a screen is fundamentally different from reading
on paper. Not a priori worse or better; just different.
It is the right word for the moment in terms of drawing people’s
attention to the vast literary shift about to wash over us.”
3.
“There are many forms of reading. We already talk about skimming and
browsing, about being deeply engrossed in reading, and surface versus
reflective reading. I see no need for yet another term that is
dependent upon technology.
When I read deeply on my Kindle, I call it reading. It is no different
than when I read deeply with a book. In both cases, I want the
technology to disappear (paper or book reader) and to become engrossed
in the story or the ideas.
You suggest “screening.” I see no need for such a term.”
4.
” …I agree with some of your other correspondents. Reading is reading. We speak of dialing a phone even though we don’t use dials any longer. Screening already has another meaning as well. Screening” is an interesting idea, but it’s probably needed as much as if you were to say you “screened” television instead of “watching” it…”
5.
“Dear Mr Bloom, My wife and I may not always reply because of our busy schedule, but we are always happy to hear from you, as your email about SCREENING did what all good emails do — it provoked thought.”
6.
“Screening is not a new term, but this might just be the time that it catches on, given the imminent arrival of Apple’s iPad, and other devices. ”
7.
“Screening is a clever and useful term capturing the fact that the experience reading on a screen is fundamentally different from reading on paper. Not a priori worse or better; just different. Keep going in the direcetion you are going. Eventually, people will listen to you. Of course, screening has multiple meanings already. But your new way of putting it …is very interesting and it provokes thought. I assume that is your intention.”
8.
“Mr Bloom, ….My advice is to use and promote “screening” as a useful new term, but don’t get too attached to the idea. You merely took a pre-existing word and retooled it with a new definition, in terms of how humans now read texts on screens, from the Kindle to PDAs to iPhones. It’s not a neologism, as Alex Beam inferred in his Globe column. And it’s not a new coinage or a newly-minted word. You took the word screen, which is what we read on when he look at a computer or reading device and you added an ING ending to the verb, and you got screening. Nothing new here. But your point of view is refreshing and helps us see where we are headed. Your best position now is to lay low and let the VIP media wonks in the New York Times and Washington Post discuss the issue of screening versus reading, with quotes from top reseachers in the field. In that event, you will have played a nice minor role in this discussion, and for someone with no PHD or connections to anyone in academia, good for you! Sometimes new ideas and new viewpoints come from independent minds like yours. Who the hell are you, anways?”
9.
“You certainly are getting quite the range of opinions here between the 50 percent on one side and the 50 percent on the other re a new meaning for “screening” and a new paradigm for reading…Very interesting..”