As somebody who commutes to London often, and travels overseas occasionally, I am surprised to read about Brain Shot by Random House publishers. This is a product that distills regular books into a 10,000-word, 60-page e-book for people in a rush, on the go and no time to read. For example, John Barrow’s “100 essential things” has been reduced from a 340-page book by 80%. Part of the beauty of books is to learn, get-away-from-it-all and lose yourself in the pages. Is that excused because it has been given the ‘technology effect?’
I wonder how long it will take before email is passé. Our youngsters today are less inclined to send email because it is too long a process, and instant messaging is fast and with-it! I hear some unversities have stopped distributing email accounts to their students, and instead are giving out eReaders, iPads and Tablet computers – that’s the kind of place I would like to study.