Quote:
Originally Posted by
Prof. Peabody 
Dude, why do you even bother with technology at all, you are obviously happier when you don't use it.
Having been involved in the biosciences and technology, I can envision the use of such technologies like the iPad, beyond what is being considered now.
And, I do look forward to being able to digitize the books I wanted to carry with me. I am working on digitizing a 55-volume book series that would be useful for people in my country. The series was a limited edition when it was published between 1903-1909, and there's no copy back home.
Having stated that, I do agree with Ireland, in a way. Before iBooks became a reality, I marveled at how the British Library digitized one very old Bible, and it flips as if you were actually dealing with the Bible. But, the key term there is "as if". I wish I could touch the originals, but they were safely encased on their display shelves in the permanent collection of the British Library.
I have an online version of the "Letters to a Young Poet". but I would never part with the cheap copy I bought from a bookstore in Boston, after someone gave me two books of Rilke. I bought "Letters to a Young Poet" on my birthday while on my way to the Museum of Fine Arts, and I became even more hooked with Rilke. It has been with me all over the world since it is very handy. I end up using as bookmark anything that was handy during these travels, as I do with whatever book I am reading. So, when I open some pages, and discover some long forgotten "bookmark", it triggers memories more vivid as if it was just moment ago.
I love books but do not have the money to indulge on rare book collections or the paintings and music that I would have wanted. So, I content myself with buying used books. It was a flea market day during one of my visits in Cambridge, I bought more than a dozen used books that caught my fancy; especially illustrated books. And sometimes you find treasures in them, that gave insight to the previous owner. One was an attempt to write a verse, tucked in a used Oxford Book of English Verse, with a short note requesting perhaps a fellow student his thoughts on his verse. The book edition was in the early 20th century. Did the previous owner become a poet or perhaps one of those English professors? Or, did he have aspirations to be a poet, just like the recipient of the "Letters to a Young Poet" but never really have it in himself to be one? Or, was he one of the young English guys, like Rupert Brooke, who died during the "Great War"; thus, never realized their potential?
I do not mind buying books with all those scribbles that some bookowners tend to do. It would be shunned by professional book collectors but it gives you insights of the thoughts, leanings and dreams sometimes of the previous owners.
To borrow and paraphrase a line from a verse, "
The things I love"... about books may be difficult to capture in its electronic form.
I embrace new technology, but new does not have to be in conflict with appreciation of the old.
There is also another sinister thing about new consumer technology - planned obsolescence. How many of us have fallen in love with some new gadgets and in it stored all what we consider to be useful. Before we realized it, the new consumer technology became old, and obsolete with respect to newer replacements.
Unless one has been conscientious in porting "older technology" to newer replacements, we may find ourselves incapable of accessing all we spent so much time "digitizing". This is one reason why librarians, even those who embrace new technology would never part with old books. Harvard spends millions of dollars to restore old books (from the threat of acid burns), because printed books have so far outlived many more recent digital technologies.
CGC
Arrived yesterday at his place by the way, and I ordered before 4 AM EST last Friday.
Seriously though, iPad 2 is the way to fly if you haven't tried an iPad before... Enjoy!
