Here’s What I’m Talking About

Maybe I’m preaching to the choir here, but I just experienced an amazing piece of writing that could only have happened in the digital age.

I often post that books and digital ereaders or websites should not be compared in an either / or paradigm. I still believe that. And as a librarian, with the appropriate ALA certified graduate degree (MLIS, University of Alabama 2009) I am a strong believer in the idea that books can and do enrich mine or others lives. But sometimes online reading does things that a physical book cannot. And it does not matter how durable, portable and accessible a physical book is; because the work by its very nature is static and finite. Notice I said “work” not the ideas or concepts found within the book. Whatever is between the covers once it is published is all there is going to be. And that limitation is where a physical book ends and where virtual reading starts.

Here is what happened to me the other morning:

I was reading the electronic edition of the New York Times and saw a simple one line storyline in a sidebar, A History Lesson From An Errant Tombstone. “Okay” I thought, “I’ll bite.” I clicked the link and was sent to the City Room which is a blog written by Andy Newman. I read the post and then followed a link to the complete story: Tombstone on Sidewalk Leads to a History Lesson, here is a link to that article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/nyregion/08tombstone.html

I strongly encourage you to click the link above and read the article yourself. I was completely taken by the story, the characters involved and the historical significance of the individuals written about.

But the story itself is not what I really wanted to post about today. What I want to post here is how incredible it is that I was able to come across the blog post in the first place, follow the digital trail to the complete article and then inform you about it. This is something that a physical book, magazine or newspaper simply cannot do. You can have footnotes, you can have references and you can add pages of appendixes. But all of that added content is limited. Nor can you easily edit or update and then publish as you can in a virtual domain.

Here is another aspect: when I clicked on the initial link I was sent to a blog. As we all know blogs simply didn’t exist fifteen years ago. It is a form of writing that originated from a digital / virtual setting. Without the web we won’t have blogs. Without the blog I might never have seen the article.

In addition the article had a multi-media component to it. Along with the article I saw photographs, a slide show and a PDF document. I could enlarge the photos. I could save the photos on my computer. I could zoom in on the PDF document so that it was easier for me to read. I could rollover the PDF to investigate different parts for myself. I could save the PDF electronically if I choose to. I could do all these things and more. None of which I can do with a traditional book.

Here is one last thought. I can also make the article and all of it’s contents available to you, for free at the SLFL, instantaneously. Or you can access this blog and the article on your home or work computer, Blackberry, mobile device or cell phone. This blog is published and available worldwide. Where a traditional book stops the digital world starts; digital domains extend all of the attributes of a traditional book and then goes beyond to the limits of our curiosity and immagination. And when it does it is readers, people like you and me, who benefit.

See you at the Library,
Pete

What The Author Intended

I recently saw a copy of an illustration by Norman Rockwell. The work is entitled “--And Daniel Boone Comes to Life on the Underwood Typewriter”. I think the illustration captures a number of ideas for both readers and writers. Like many people who read I feel that while the writer of a book provides the reader with their own idea(s) of the characters and events that make up a story, it is then up to the reader to make the work real to her/himself. Even when a writer is very good and provides the necessary description to bring the tale to life in the readers mind, the reader still needs to do the putting together. And to also put things together in a way that is not only appealing but also acceptable to the reader. Not an easy task. Sometimes this means the reader has to suspend disbelief or credibility for a bit to make things work. That’s okay. This idea of the reader being a crucial part of the process is the main criticism of why movies are different and not as good as books. The reader does the work of putting things together not the director, actors or production teams. But do we always put things together as the author meant? I’m not sure. Two people can have very different ideas as to what a character will look like and what the primary motivations of that character are. Hopefully as we learn more about the character some of that ambiguity fades. But that is still up to the reader.

This also brings me around to a second idea. What happens when we learn too much about a character? I’m talking non-fiction here. I’ll continue using Daniel Boone as my example. A number of years ago I read Boone A Biography by Robert Morgan. I really enjoyed the work. I thought Morgan did a great job of not only informing the reader but I also felt that I traveled with Boone during his entire, eventful life. Here is the rub: I also found out that during the Revolutionary War Boone spent most of his time wandering around in what was then the wilderness and that he was not a strong advocate for American Independence. I also discovered that Boone was an ardent slave holder his entire life. Now how do I reconcile the “Opener of the West” the arch-typical American frontiersman, the hero of generations with these two facts? I can’t.

And maybe that was one of the things that Morgan intended with his work. Interesting books, much like interesting people, usually don’t fit into tidy letterboxes. Maybe one of the hallmarks of a good read in fiction is that the author gives you only just enough information so that there is some confusion and you as the reader have to deliver the goods yourself. In Morgan’s non-fiction work maybe one of his goals in writing about Boone was to shatter some of the stereotypes that have grown up around Boone and to let us know that historic figures are really strikingly similar to current day people. These people are a reflection of the times, for good or ill and that they are, like us responding to events that surround them. Of course, some respond with a greater impact then others. These characters are rarely simple, one dimensional characters and that they can lead complicated, rather messy lives at times. Just like you and me.

See you at the Library,
Pete

Map As Compass

I’ve always liked maps. And I have always liked books that have maps in them. I do have preferences. A map as cover art is good. And a map of a fictitious world is useful, especially if the author is using land and city names that have lots of consonants and very few vowels. But my favorite map is that of a real place on the inside cover of a book, preferably a hard bound book.

Let me clarify a bit here. Those maps that depict the movement of peoples at war don’t really help me. I tend to think about the individuals involved instead of the groups. And maps that show broad sweeps of migration of people or species don’t help me much either. Weather maps are okay but they are usually time elapse drawings showing the movement of highs and lows and hurricanes or other types of storms. All of these devices are meant to help with the understanding of a book but, for me, they more often seem to confuse then make clear. And I don’t think I would want to keep referring to the inside cover of a book in order to keep up with the action of the story. I want the map to help me savior the story.

I think the use of a map can also gives credence to a story. It helps the reader picture what is taking place by giving them the where along with the who. If you can see the shape of the land and water you can also see how the story takes shape. Often the land or water itself is used as a character device in this type of book.

Maps may also help to clear up any misinformation that might arise in the readers mind while reading the book. You can follow the action of the story right there in black and white. The little hash marks you sometimes find showing the travels of the characters are helpful but not really necessary; unless the character is crisscrossing continents. The smaller the geographical area in question being depicted the better the map. But it can’t be too small. It has to be just the right size. Big enough so that you need a map to get a clear picture of the relation of things and characters but not so small that you could take in everything with a quick glance if you happened to walk into the story.

To walk into a story. Is that what we do when we read? I would think that it might be one way to describe a good book. When we read we go along with the characters and become an observer of all that happens. In a great book we are not unaffected observers. We care about the characters and the lives they lead. We are unable to influence the characters but they do affect us. Maybe not always in life changing ways but sometimes a book will do that to a person. A great or even merely good book changes our perception. It forces us to go beyond our own little world; to move into uncharted areas, to venture beyond our own thoughts and lives. And it has been my experience that when you do decide to go beyond one’s own neighborhood it is a good idea to bring along a map.

See you at the Library,
Pete