Mac Slocum over on the O-Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing blog offers up a neat twist to the debate of e-books vs. paper books… what if we had all been using e-books for the past few hundred years and paper books were just coming on the market? Would we all laugh at the paperback, or as the new kid on the block, would it capture our attention and spark a movement?
He lists out the benfits of the new unplugged book model: no need to buy batteries, lasts a loooooong time, ultra portable, ultra cheap, etc. All these things almost put the old e-book model to shame, huh?
Slocum calls it the flip test and it sure seems a good way to look at both sides of an equation.
The Birmingham Museum of Art has opened an online doorway into their art library. If you’ve never been, there are tons of cool books there that aren’t available anywhere else in town. So many of the 35,000 items, you can’t check out. As of right now, the site is a bit bare bones and takes a few trial searches to figure your way through the catalog. But it’s a great resource for research or inspiration. Thanks to the powers-that-be that helped make this available! {via Emmet O’Neal}
One of my favorite new online services is back online with a new twist. Wowio.com is an online service that lets you read books for free or for pay. All you do is sign-up for a free username and then you can access all of the books uploaded by wowio‘s publishing partners, in an ad supported window. Or if you like, you can buy a pdf copy of the book and download to your desktop/pda/laptop/e-book reader/etc.
I’m not sure how the new partnership models will work out for the publishers, but if Wowio can have another year of growth, like they did last year, then they could become a force to be reckoned with (and no doubt the model for many copycat services).
Pausch, author of The Last Lecture, died of pancreatic cancer today. I’m not one for touchy feely anything. That includes motivational books too. Don’t know why. They just never resonate with me. But this book, this video, are the exception (here is a shorter WSJ recap of the video). He is right on. Every word of it. It’s common sense. It’s practical. It’s hope. It’s love. I’m glad he was a teacher. People like Pausch need to be in a place where they can pass along their attitudes and knowledge.
