#Microblog Mondays 234: Future Books
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The books you’re reading now — at least, the e-book versions — are the future books that people described decades ago. Wired had a piece on all the ideas people had for where digital books would go:
The Future Book would change depending on where you were, how you were feeling. It would incorporate your very environment into its story—the name of the coffee shop you were sitting at, your best friend’s birthday. It would be sly, maybe a little creepy. Definitely programmable.
There are definitely books doing innovative things — I’m thinking of books that have accompanying apps. But for the most part, my e-books are screen versions of my paper books, albeit with the ability to highlight with my finger and look up a word with a tap.
Read through the list of ideas in that article. Which do you wish would come true? Me — I want the indefinite Ulysses.
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6 comments
Most of my reading is e-book (on my Ipad or phone) or audiobook (on my phone), borrowed wirelessly from my library, wherever I might be in the world. I love the convenience, and I’m quite happy they are simply versions of printed books. I don’t need to have my environment reflected in my books – after all, I read to escape, or to travel from my chair, or to learn.
Funny thing is, we actually do have this, but it’s for children. As a picture book author/artist and would be self-publisher, I’m mid-learning Adobe products so I can put tiny interactivity into my picture books. It’s expected. I’m not 100% sold on it being a =good= thing, so I’d like to figure out if there’s a way to program the interactivity to be off or on, depending on the parent’s preference.
I’d rather stick with ebooks being simply electronic versions of the paper book. The rest of it is too creepy. I’m already creeped out by Alexa listening when we use Amazon Music.
I agree with the others…I feel like ebooks are what they should be. I don’t see a need for it to be interactive or anything else. And if you want personalization…there are sites that will put your personal info into a book. I have one my mom has made when I was a kid. It has my name, Birthday, home address, all kinds of personal info written in to the story.
I like my Kindle books just the way they are — highlightable, dictionary-enabled, portable, the end. I don’t want them to be interactive. I want the interactivity to come from my brain. I agree that all the as-you-go personalization would be creepy. And a mine for ads. No thank you, give me paper books or my basic Kindle type.
There may be room for more innovations with ebooks, but I definitely wouldn’t want a story to change based on where I am. There’s a reason the author chose a particular setting. Those details aren’t interchangeable.
Change the coffee shop and you’re changing the story.