You DO Like Reading Off a Computer Screen

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This is a personal project by @dellsystem. I built this to help me retain information from the books I'm reading.

Source code on GitHub (MIT license).

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(Originally published in Locus Magazine, March 2007)

on computers offering a new kind of reading, with a different cognitive model (more distractions, more bits-and-pieces) than the typical novel. similar to how the record album, with its intentional ordering and art, isnt how most people consume music today. not certain what his point is: that people don't want ebooks? they do, but only as a supplement to printed books? idk


        Doctorow, C. (2008). You DO Like Reading Off a Computer Screen. In Doctorow, C. Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future. Tachyon Publications, pp. 54-57

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The novel is an invention, one that was engendered by technological changes in information display, reproduction, and distribution. The cognitive style of the novel is different from the cognitive style of the legend. The cognitive style of the computer is different from the cognitive style of the novel.

Computers want you to do lots of things with them. Networked computers doubly so — they (another RSS item) have a million ways of asking for your attention, and just as many ways of rewarding it.

—p.54 by Cory Doctorow 7 years, 5 months ago

The novel is an invention, one that was engendered by technological changes in information display, reproduction, and distribution. The cognitive style of the novel is different from the cognitive style of the legend. The cognitive style of the computer is different from the cognitive style of the novel.

Computers want you to do lots of things with them. Networked computers doubly so — they (another RSS item) have a million ways of asking for your attention, and just as many ways of rewarding it.

—p.54 by Cory Doctorow 7 years, 5 months ago

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The problem, then, isn't that screens aren't sharp enough to
read novels off of. The problem is that novels aren't screeny
enough to warrant protracted, regular reading on screens.

—p.56 by Cory Doctorow 7 years, 5 months ago

The problem, then, isn't that screens aren't sharp enough to
read novels off of. The problem is that novels aren't screeny
enough to warrant protracted, regular reading on screens.

—p.56 by Cory Doctorow 7 years, 5 months ago

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future
by Cory Doctorow

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future
by Cory Doctorow

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future
by Cory Doctorow