129 replies to this topic

[Galleymac]

Datepalm, on 19 January 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

...look at the cover, read the back, read the first page, read the last page, flip through a little, see if it smells nice, whatever. To each their own.

Sci-Sci, on 19 January 2013 - 06:21 PM, said:

Imagine you were at a used bookstore and found a copy of an old book that seemed awesome but it smelled awful. Would you get the book?

Hmm... while I have stepped away from smelly books (or indeed, smelly sections of stores, or indeed, smelly stores) I admit I have also purchased books based on how they fit in my hand, which I think might be weird. And not reliable.  I wound up with a copy of "Pandora" by Anne Rice that way.

[Datepalm]

I've read that!

I have to admit i've never actually run into books that are somehow unhygenic, in all my years of browsing even the dodgiest secondhand bookshops, including all the old Russian ones that used to be in the basement of Tel Aviv Central next to the sex shops and the stripper-shoe shops.

[ptoss1]

I want to go to a bookstore, pick up a random book, sit down, and read it, with real paper pages. Ya.

[Galactus]

Datepalm, on 20 January 2013 - 11:51 PM, said:

I've read that!

I have to admit i've never actually run into books that are somehow unhygenic, in all my years of browsing even the dodgiest secondhand bookshops, including all the old Russian ones that used to be in the basement of Tel Aviv Central next to the sex shops and the stripper-shoe shops.

There are specific shops for stripper-shoes?

Also, books that smell bad often makes me more interesting, that generally mean they are old and weird.

[Datepalm]

Of course. Stripper-shoe shopping and regular-shoe shopping are two completely different experiences.

[Lummel]

Sci-Sci, on 19 January 2013 - 06:21 PM, said:

Imagine you were at a used bookstore and found a copy of an old book that seemed awesome but it smelled awful. Would you get the book?

I did once.  Never again.

But yes, I believe as this ancient video footage demonstrates, such changes in reading technology have always been challenging to us readers.

Edited by Lummel, 21 January 2013 - 05:35 AM.

[Galleymac]

Datepalm, on 20 January 2013 - 11:51 PM, said:

I've read that!

I have to admit i've never actually run into books that are somehow unhygenic, in all my years of browsing even the dodgiest secondhand bookshops, including all the old Russian ones that used to be in the basement of Tel Aviv Central next to the sex shops and the stripper-shoe shops.

I have to say -- and I wasn't in Tel Aviv for very long, just a few days on the outskirts -- but I have to say it comes across as a cleaner city than New York by several orders of magnitude. Just, in general. Even if it's just because of its being SO much less damp.

(Did you finish?  I think that's the one that finally got me off the Rice train, cold-turkey like.)

[Datepalm]

Galleymac, on 21 January 2013 - 10:39 AM, said:

I have to say -- and I wasn't in Tel Aviv for very long, just a few days on the outskirts -- but I have to say it comes across as a cleaner city than New York by several orders of magnitude. Just, in general. Even if it's just because of its being SO much less damp.

(Did you finish?  I think that's the one that finally got me off the Rice train, cold-turkey like.)

I think I did...and I remember it was towards the end of a run of reading about six of them in one go, and I stopped either here or at...Vittorio? Memnoch the Devil? One of these.

[cseresz.reborn]

Vatican Apostolic Library uploads 256 digitized manuscripts

“It will be all of the manuscripts. To be more precise, all of the manuscripts that are conserved within the manuscript deposit in the Library. There are about 80,000.”

The project started in late 2011, and employs the use of technology from NASA to digitize the documents. But, it will take years.

Once finished, the files will use up approximately 4.5 million gigabytes in the Vatican Library's external hard-drive.


http://www.vaticanli...s_digitalizzati

[TheDanish]

I have mixed feelings about this.  One the one hand I concur with many that holding a physical book is a lot more satisfying and fun, especially when you're doing it for your own entertainment.

On the other hand, as a graduate student I find electronic copies of academic books really convenient.  It makes distribution and study a lot easier.  So there's definitely a niche for both.  I just hope we find a balance.

Edited by TheDanish, 01 February 2013 - 10:48 PM.