ROBUST discussion

When the Man in the Thornproof Suit from The Economist SPEAKS, listen up! (Literally. You can view the article in several forms, including Spritzing it one fast word at a time, or listen to it, or just scroll it.

There's too much hysteria about books, so this balanced view on the future of books from The Economist is most welcome, even soothing:

http://www.economist.com/news/essays/...

That was rather uplifting. Thanks for posting the link, Andre. ^_^

"Uplifting". Yeah, right. Books, as a whole, *are* supposed to be uplifting. Wish I thought of the word myself.

Andre, if I was sitting with you right now, no matter what kind of hot drink we both gripped in our hands... be it coffee, tea or even hot cocoa... or perhaps old fashion wassail... I think I would have opened my coveted bottle of 120 year old rum to add a slosh or two in our cups. Unless I'm mistaken, my previous very short 'thank you' didn't have enough meat in it.

I didn't miss the joyful irony of reading the piece in a digital book that displayed coffee cup stains and drip visuals that some much used paper books gain, while talking about historical facts on publishing, and defining overall that the printed word is evolving right along with our technology. That those who adapt are the ones who become the next generation of producers, and that during our current transition from one advancement to the next, we can celebrate how we develop, that it can and will define even new genre, new styles among the various writers out there. That we tend to ape the old ways before fully crossing over to any new ways of providing text to hungry eyes. Proof of that existed in the digitally reproduced coffee stain on the same page it was discussed.

I got all of that and then some. I wish there was a way I could buy you a beer at the pub, my friend. It's the least I could do, because that helped offset a major amount of my own growing doom and gloom.

^_^

Sainte, Daniel! I think "uplifting" covered it pithily.

It's wonderful how the gloom lifts the moment you escape from Amazon's shadow. Everyone who did comments on it.