Fascinating Essay on "E-Reading"

There's a terrific essay in today's Wall Street Journal about the future of the book, reading, and other related matters. Written by Steven Johnson, whose most recent book was The Invention of Air. Because it's the Wall Street Journal, there's no way to know if it's available as a free read, but it's worth tracking down. One focus of his essay:

There is great promise and opportunity in the digital-books revolution. The question is: Will we recognize the book itself when that revolution has run its course?

That's a question I've asked here on many occasions. (See for example here and here or any of the entries under the category "Future of Print.") I don't know the answer, although Johnson takes a stab at it.

The essay also addresses another issue I've pondered: the disconnect between what people think is out there (eg, whatever shows up on Google), and what's actually out there (billions of undigitized books). Johnson also contemplates the act of reading itself:

Because they have been largely walled off from the world of hypertext, print books have remained a kind of game preserve for the endangered species of linear, deep-focus reading.

But unlike most essays of this sort, he also wonders what the e-book will mean for writers:

Writers and publishers will begin to think about how individual pages or chapters might rank in Google's results, crafting sections explicitly in the hopes that they will draw in that steady stream of search visitors. Individual paragraphs will be accompanied by descriptive tags to orient potential searchers; chapter titles will be tested to determine how well they rank. Just as Web sites try to adjust their content to move as high as possible on the Google search results, so will authors and publishers try to adjust their books to move up the list.

And now I'd better stop quoting before I end up violating copyright laws... Anyway, absolutely worth reading.

"Beer Wars"? Jay Says It Better Than Anyone

As is often the case, my pal Jay Brooks pretty much sums up the nature of the sheer, well, um, stupidity of the beer-blogosphere's reaction to Beer Wars.

Stan-the-Wise Also Noticed My "Age of E-Quarius" Musing

Stan Hieronymus, of whom I am a huge fan, is, near as I can tell,  the only person who had the same reaction to my post-film comments that I did (does that makes sense??)

Background: Greg and Sam had both insisted that they weren't in brewing to grow "big." Then Ben Stein asked me to comment, in effect, on the nature of capitalism and entrpreneurship and I said "blah, blah blah, whatever" and then said to Sam and Greg something like "You think you're not in this to grow big? Get back to me in ten years."

And even as I said that on-stage, both Stan and I were reminded of my blog series The Age of E-Quarius, in which I wondered if we humans are living through the end of capitalism and on the verge of, well, a new age.

And of course as I thought that blog series I'd written, I sat there on-stage wishing I had time to move the entire panel discussion to larger issues and away from its (in my opinion) inane focus on how somehow craft brewers are groovier-than-thou and that they've magically created an age of entrepreneurship (which is, of course, total horseshit, a fact I pointed out to Sam, Greg, et al before the event began.)

Anyway --chops to Stan for having the same reaction to my words that I did. We're either great minds thinking alike or, well, I dunno. Total dumbasses. And he's not and therefore I opt for the former rather than the latter. How's that for a confusing Monday morning comment?

Thanks for the "Beer Wars" Twitters and Other Communcations

I just got home late last night from California and am only now trying to catch up with what accumulated in my absence -- including a slew of Twitter replies and direct messages. (*1)

Anyway, thanks to all of you who saw Beer Wars, who commented, who wrote to me, etc. Much appreciated.

The one thing all of the panelists said immediately after the panel ended was "Too bad we didn't have 90 minutes for that segment. We definitely could have had a good shouting match." (Which we'd sort of had earlier. No, we don't all agree. Or, more accurately, I don't agree with any of the other panelists or with Anat.) (Which, of course, is why I was there: the outsider perspective, because as I keep reminding people: I'm not in the beer industry. I'm a historian who just happened to write a book about beer.)

The film's producer/director/creator, Anat Baron, hopes her project will provoke some discussion. I hope so, too, although what I hope for is a larger discussion among Americans, not just beer geeks.

The most frustrating aspect of this experience is that, thus far, all the commentary has come out of the beer world and so is focused on the beer industry. But Anat was trying to make a larger point about American society and capitalism. For example, I hope the films sparks discussion about Americans' attitudes toward alcohol, which to me is the main issue from which all other things flow.

Eg, the original purpose of the 3-tier system was to place barriers between Americans and alcohol. It was not created so that big brewers could screw little ones. Indeed, historically in the past 50 or so years, large and small beermakers have cooperated more than they've warred -- a point that's lost on just about everyone in today's "small" brewing industry. Anyway: onward, onward, onward.

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*1: I tried last night and a day or so ago to wade through the Twitter-mass -- but what the fuck was up with Twitter? Was it me? Or was the entire system totally haywire???

Live from LA -- Very Tired Person

Have quick access to a computer -- am tired today but SO HAPPY for Anat Baron, the producer/director/writer of "Beer Wars." I hope all of you enjoyed the film. It was a long day, but the green room was lively as the panelists sat around together for hours talking, getting the makeup (ugh), waiting, re-doing makeup (ugh), more talking, more waiting -- and then doing live from LA. I'll be back in Sunday. Till then: enjoy whatever is good this moment.

I Am Out of the E-Office

I leave for California tomorrow morning for the "Beer Wars" event Thursday evening. (*1)

I hope you''ll consider seeing the film. If you're at the event itself, or the reception after, please say hello. I don't own a "mobile" device so unless I come across some wowza internet access during the next few days, I won't be live blogging or tweeting until I return home. (Yes, I realize I'm hopelessly out of it -- but I work at home and rarely travel, so, ya know, why would I NEED a "mobile" device??)

I'll be back in action here at the website Sunday evening or Monday morning. (Am doing some other stuff after the film.) There's, ahem, plenty to keep you occupied in my absence....

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*1: Yes, I live in a place sufficiently "remote" that I need to leave tomorrow in order to be in LA on time for the schedule on Thursday. Film starts at 8 pm eastern time, but the panel participants -- including myself -- need to be in the venue by 1:00 pm.