Comments on: E-books Are Not Horseless Carriages

By: Blessay: Some thoughts on the e-book | Victoria Ludas Orlofsky

Blessay: Some thoughts on the e-book | Victoria Ludas Orlofsky — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:13:35 +0000

[...] the new technology in the vocabulary and expectations of the old. In 2011, Andy Burkhardt of Information Tyrannosaur quoted this from Kevin Kelly: “We make prediction more difficult because our immediate tendency [...]

By: The New Deal On E-Books | Information Tyrannosaur

The New Deal On E-Books | Information Tyrannosaur — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:28:03 +0000

[...] said a few weeks ago that e-books are a different sort of medium than print books. Now we are seeing how some of those [...]

By: Gary Atwood

Gary Atwood — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:20:53 +0000

Well said. I agree that it’s very early days when it comes to e-books and look forward to seeing how things evolve over time. I just wish that we didn’t have to expend so much energy arguing about things like formats and platforms. It would be better spent on real innovation. Maybe we’ll be surprised….

By: New Ideas: Separating The Chaff From The Grain | Information Tyrannosaur

New Ideas: Separating The Chaff From The Grain | Information Tyrannosaur — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:40:45 +0000

[...] I mentioned in my last post I am reading the book What Technology Wants. In this book Kevin Kelly relates a story about a [...]

By: Top Ten Links 2.3 – All About Ebooks | Librarian by Day

Top Ten Links 2.3 – All About Ebooks | Librarian by Day — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:23:14 +0000

[...] E-books Are Not Horseless Carriages – I completely agree with what say Andy Burkhardt says We gravitate to what we know and what [...]

By: Andy Burkhardt

Andy Burkhardt — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:32:36 +0000

I see where you’re coming from Lis. I really enjoy traveling with my ipad instead of multiple books stuffed in my bag. And I think in the short term we are still going to be looking at books as horseless carriages. Right now we’re in that technological transition period where we are still used to the old method and just want “books but better.”

Like you said, the experience is going to be completely different. Just like with cars (Kelly mentions this in the book) there were tons of other revolutions and inventions that came from them: the highway system, ubiquitous gas stations, drive through windows, and drive in theaters. There will be similar revolutions because of the e-book. Like you mentioned, enhanced images are now included in some e-books. Very easy book publication is another implication. It’s hard to imagine everything, but we’ll see them soon enough.

By: Lis Carey

Lis Carey — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:41:50 +0000

Right now, what I’m looking for in an ebook IS a “horseless carriage”: something as much like reading a print book as possible, plus the advantages of getting books without leaving the house, carrying around lots of books without lots of weight, etc.

In the longer run, though, there are all sorts of neat things that should/will be possible with ebooks, that will eventually make books and reading a different experience. Maybe just for non-fiction (I’m thinking of images in scientific journals being 3D and rotatable, for instance), maybe not.

For simply reading large amounts of text, though, they’ll have to go far to beat e-ink.

By: Ebooks and Libraries: A Stream of Concerns | Information Wants To Be Free

Ebooks and Libraries: A Stream of Concerns | Information Wants To Be Free — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:21:58 +0000

[...] know where ebooks, patron-driven acquisitions, or e-readers are going. When I read posts like Andy Bukhardt’s about the horseless carriage vs. the ebook, I wonder if reading online in the future will not resemble in any way what we do and use for it [...]