Saving some trees
Sheila Williams‘ December 2008 Asimov’s editorial was an interesting one for me. It discussed the story behind the physical sizes of the magazine she’s the current editor of along its history. Why did I find it interesting? Because I’ve never read Asimov’s (or Analog’s) paper editions. I started reading these magazines in 2002, and I’ve always bought the digital versions only, first at eReader.com (back then to read on my Treo 180), and later on Fictionwise.com, when eReader stopped having them available (eReader and Fictionwise have since then become one company). Nowadays, I only buy paper books when they’re not legally available in digital format.
Even within my geekier circle of friends I’m a bit of a rarity, having heard the most passionate defense of classical paper books from some of the people who otherwise use the sharpest of the cutting edge to live and make their living.
The jump to the immateriality of the commerce and enjoyment of other media like music and video has had a much greater acceptance (both legal and otherwise…), even among the non-geek. Does this say something about the people who read books, or just about a mismatch between books and the digital world? From my numerous discussions with dead tree lovers 
, their qualms have some relevance, particularly for non-linear research reading, such as being easier to navigate and annotate the texts. But after all, hasn’t the practice of reading news online and digital correspondence become all but universal? Why not for leisure, linear reading?
The main points for their passion of paper are its physical properties and permanence. The smell, the texture, the physical bulk as a representation of the information contained within. That the book is enjoyable without any hardware beyond the human sight, that it has a instantaneous “boot time”, and no DRM whatsoever.
My stance is different, based on several reasons, starting with the question of elegance: why would you chop down trees, move them to the paper factory, make ink, move everything to the printers, and move all the finished books around again, when the goal of transferring the knowledge from a writer’s mind into your own can be achieved by only pushing electrons and photons around, using the devices you already have? (I currently read my eBooks on my iPod Touch – I don’t find dedicated devices like the Kindle appealing for my needs).
The lack of bulk for me is one of the great advantages, as it allows me to carry in my pocket all the books I’m currently reading without carrying any extra weight (that’s why dedicated reading hardware is not appealing to me). Therefore, I can use any unexpected free time to read a little more, and I can take any books on weekends and vacations without any forethought or hassle. And if you have ever moved from one house to another, you know how heavy all those boxes filled with books are. My reasons aren’t limited to the physical realm, two other reasons are very important: the instant gratification of buying an eBook online and being able to start reading it as soon as the purchase is made; and being able to reference any unknown words on any dictionary loaded into the reading software just by touching the word.
I still haven’t made the switch completely, as many publishers, either for fear of copying or by not thinking there’s enough market for it to be worth the trouble, still don’t have their titles available in digital format.
In the end, I think it’s just another cultural limitation – if you’ve grown up with paper, changing is difficult.
Charles Stross – Halting State
Halting State (UK/US/ebook) is one of Charles Stross‘ latest books, and it is set in a very near future and plausible independent Scotland. It revolves around the viewpoint of three of the main characters, in succession (it flows better than I expected!). It starts very simply by the investigation of bank robbery… inside an online multi-player role playing game.
This is one of the books that I can’t really tell anything else, because the fun is in exploring the “onion” of concentric plots. What I can say is that the book pulls it off very well, without stretching your disbelief – you do get wrapped up in the story very deeply.
Another thing – this isn’t a “classical” science fiction novel. Although it’s pretty heavy on technology, I think the book is very readable by someone that would enjoy a classical political fiction novel.
My only criticism perhaps is that some things are over-explained (perhaps it’s the price to pay to make the story more accessible to non-geeks… ). I also loved the double meaning of the title, which only becomes clear by the end of the book. I recommend it highly.
Ian McDonald – River of Gods
In River of Gods (UK/US), Ian McDonald (author’s blog) weaves a story of our near future in a divided India, on the 100th anniversary of the independence from the British Empire, in 2047. The world is on the brink of the so feared technological singularity, with the majority of world aligning with the US in banning advanced artificial inteligence systems. Centered around nine central characters, and around the holy river Ganges, it follows a plot that will slide each character into their role for the story, always going back to the city of Varanasi.
I might be getting slightly blasé, but I felt the grand finale didn’t live up to the journey that the book is – perhaps because the story itself is so rich in its settings. Even if you already know something about India, this book will totally immerse you in a very believable atmosphere – there’s a helpful glossary of Indian terms in the end of the book, but it doesn’t cover anywhere near all the terms encountered in the book – having access to the internet while reading the book for some clarifications will make the story more understandable in its intricacies.
The book felt perhaps a bit too long – some characters are just there to make the setting more understandable as a whole, or to explain the motivations of other characters. Perhaps a few glimpses of the thought processes of the aeais (AIs – Artificial Intelligences) without breaking the main secrets of the story would make it more interesting – using some kind of unreliable narrator device, it might even add to the beautiful complexity of the book.
I enjoyed it as an experience, and I felt that I might have learned some things about what makes India what it is, and what it might eventually be in the future. It’s a book to be read with concentration, as it demands attention from the reader/traveler. Perhaps like India itself.
Charles Stross – Glasshouse
A recipe for a great singularity mistery adventure:
Ingredients
- 4 parts of Accelerando
- 3 parts of 1984
- 3 parts of Cryptonomicon
- 1 part of Pleasantville
- 1 part of The Tunnel Under the World
- 2 parts of Use of Weapons
Preparation
Start by pouring two parts of Accelerando, plus one part of 1984, mix gently with the stove on low. Check that it doesn’t have any clumps and add a part of Cryptonomicon. Keep mixing while adding one part of Pleasantville, let it simmer for a while. Add one part of The Tunnel Under the World, increase the temperarature, mix vigorously while adding two parts of Accelerando, two parts of Cryptonomicon, and one part of Use of Weapons, raise it to a boil and add two parts of 1984 and one more part of Use of Weapons, turn the fire off and let it cool down.
Serving
It’s better served in one go, saving some portions for later is not advised.
I think this recipe worked really well, it’s the first book in ages that I’ve read in a single weekend. It suffers from a few predictable plot twists, but which don’t detract from the book’s brilliance. I recommend it, especially if you’ve already read Accelerando, as the universe in question has a lot of common points.
Cory Doctorow – Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom
I’ve just finished reading the electronic version of Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom, a story about the ad-hocracy fights in the post scarcity Bitchun society for the control of Walt Disney World. An interesting read, although the real scale of the changes is very subtly described.
And just today I saw this video (via BoingBoing) about a rare Walt Disney World moment captured by a visitor, the Haunted Mansion with the lights on! It’s funny because the Haunted Mansion is one of the main “battlegrounds” of the book.
