contemporary bindings
For a book conservator "contemporary" means bound in the period of the book's printing. This reference site is exemplary for its easy navigation, clean design and magnificent subject. Scott Husby has provided an adventure among these fascinating 15th c. survivals.
always on
One of the draw backs of screen reading is the need for electrical power. The device needs more than wireless connectivity for content, it also needs wireless connectivity for energy as well. The energy node could be at the consumer end, but to fulfill portability, it would be optimal to have mobile reception.
This precept could transform the obstacles of storage battery development for larger devices as well. A synthetic metabolism based on kinetic energy transmission would be a growth industry. By instigating such a revolution the e-book reader could go down in history, finally.
drm sturm und draug
A given book content can be rendered on any number of devices and any screen based device can render a number of contents. With a paper book a given content is captive in a single reading device and there is little opportunity of transmission of the work from one device to another. In a sense DRM (digital rights management) is even more effective in paper than on screen.
E-book advocates visualize books as effervescent content that can be rendered to any reading device. Restraint of multiplicity and migration of content from one device to another is blamed on DRM but the underlying frustration is with lack of possession of content. E-book readers wish to own, not rent, books.
The frustration should be attributed not to DRM but to illogic. Possession is a feature of the device rendering, not the state of ownership of un-rendered content. Possession is best assured in paper rendering and least assure in screen rendering. The more fixed and material the depiction, the more owned. The more variable and immaterial the depiction the less it is possessed. Such contrast may even extend to conceptual possession of content.
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