Infernal technology 2: eBooks!

In Sept 2007 I wrote a post in the form of a facetious letter to the editor in 1899 about the shortcomings of the automobile compared to horse transport and bicycles and walking. It was inspired by the constant dribble of complaints about new technology based on a similar argument: that everything old is necessarily superior to new ways of doing things.

Over the last few years I have had numerous conversations with people who have never read an eBook - a book on a screen, but are quite convinced that they will never catch on, because the person just loves the feel and the smell and the touch of a book. Well so do I, but have read quite a lot of books on various small devices and I can tell you that it is a pretty good experience.

I am currently nearly finished a 500 or so page non fiction book on my iPhone, which is about a third of the page area of a paperback book, and I can testify to it being a darn good experience. I read it in bed, lighter than a book and does not require a bed light at 3 am, and I read it for 45 minutes while waiting for the RAA to arrive, and I have marked selected sections with Notes, and it cost less than a paper book, arrived in abut 1 minute and did not involve a trip to the library. I can't share it with others, so it isn't perfect in every way, but you ought be open minded to the possibility of eBooks, because like the automobile they are here to stay, and probably dominate reading in the very near future.

The image is what you see on the screen. The display can be rotated to landscape view as well.

Infernal technology: the automobile

The Editor,
The Times
29th September 1899

Sir,
I wish to express my dismay at the appearance of the automobile on the roads of England. This increasingly popular form of travel heralds a severe deterioration in the standards of transport of people. A good horse and light buggy provides a quiet, gentle, reflective and throughly pleasant mode of travel. The motor car on the other hand is noisy, smelly, and much too fast for safety. Furthermore, as seems likely, the cost of the motor car is falling below the cost of maintaining horses, and the development of the ominbus with up to twenty passengers, will mean that travel of longer distances will be economic for the lower classes which will lead to the deterioration of roads and crowding thereof. Furthermore, there is the likelihood that crowds of unruly people will congest popular places of leisure.

On a personal level, we must note that Man's relationship with the horse has been treasured by many people for thousands of years and may be lost if this trend continues.

The so called advancement of technology in the form of the automobile may have some benefits, but overall, its introduction is to be resisted because it disturbs our way of life.

Yours faithfully,

Disgusted.