[144] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (USENET News System)
Fri May 1 16:19:51 1992
Date: Fri, 1 May 1992 14:53:44 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: USENET News System <news%u.washington.edu@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Path: tdowling
From: tdowling@lib.washington.edu (Thomas Dowling)
Subject: Future of the book (was Re: Computerspeak)
Message-ID: <1992Apr30.204430.5200@u.washington.edu>
Sender: news@u.washington.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: University of Washington Libraries
References: <PACS-L%92043008595954@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1992 20:44:30 GMT
I just ran across an author's viewpoint on creating a book vs. creating a
browsable hypertext reader:
"I will not be browsed through. The essence of writing books is the
author's right to tell the story in his own words and in the order he
chooses. Hypertext, which allows an instant accounting of how many
times the words _Dynamic Random-Access Memory_ or _f**k_ appear,
completely eliminates what I perceive as my value-added [sic], turns this
exercise into something like the Yellow Pages, and totally eliminates
the prospect that it will help fund my retirement." -- Robert X. Cringley,
_Accidental Empires_
Of course, Cringley knows most of the people who could create a hypertext
version of his book, and can therefore predict about how well it would
be brought off!
Thomas Dowling
tdowling@u.washington.edu
