So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Here's the punchline: He's denied tenure because the committee feels they can't in good conscience give tenure to someone who's never read Hamlet.
In any event, here's an essay by Johann Hari arguing that books do, indeed, still matter:
I adore the web, and they will have to wrench my Twitter feed from my cold dead hands. This isn't going to turn into an antedeluvian rant against the glories of our wired world. But there's a reason why that word – "wired" – means both "connected to the internet" and "high, frantic, unable to concentrate."
In the age of the internet, physical paper books are a technology we need more, not less. In the 1950s, the novelist Herman Hesse wrote: "The more the need for entertainment and mainstream education can be met by new inventions, the more the book will recover its dignity and authority. We have not yet quite reached the point where young competitors, such as radio, cinema, etc, have taken over the functions from the book it can't afford to lose."
We have now reached that point. And here's the function that the book–the paper book that doesn't beep or flash or link or let you watch a thousand videos all at once–does for you that nothing else will. It gives you the capacity for deep, linear concentration. ...
A book has a different relationship to time than a TV show or a Facebook update. It says that something was worth taking from the endless torrent of data and laying down on an object that will still look the same a hundred years from now. The French writer Jean-Phillipe De Tonnac says "the true function of books is to safeguard the things that forgetfulness constantly threatens to destroy." It's precisely because it is not immediate – because it doesn't know what happened five minutes ago in Kazakhstan, or in Charlie Sheen's apartment – that the book matters.
He's right about that. More importantly, some arguments can only be made at the length of a book--they simply can't meaningfully be reduced to 200 words, or 2,000 or even 20,000.
He goes on to say, however:
That's why we need books, and why I believe they will survive. Because most humans have a desire to engage in deep thought and deep concentration.
About that, I am not sure. In fact, I'd have to say that the evidence I've seen suggests he's wrong.
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Jan '11
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Most people these days don't even seem to have a desire to engage in a proper and lengthy meal, much less thought and concentration.
Oct '10
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Another reason Johann likes books is that they can serve as the source for quotes he can put in the mouths of his interview subjects.
And why is there any necessary link between a long-form prose treatment of a subject (fact or fiction) and dead trees? His argument that paper books don't distract would seem to fit scrolls better. After all, you have to have a scroll table to really read a scroll, enforcing attention. You can read a book in front of TV, on the bus, in the bath, on the beach - all of which detracts from the deep, linear concentration that is so necessary today...
Dec '10
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
He goes on to say, however:
About that, I am not sure. In fact, I'd have to say that the evidence I've seen suggests he's wrong. ·
I agree that the desire will always exist. I do however, believe that "deep thought and concentration" are capacities of the individual mind, and now more than ever require a disciplined effort to achieve. Thought and concentration need space from distraction which as hard to find.
I think, in part, this is a casualty of the loss of agrarian culture. Some of the deepest pondering happened while I was hoeing what seemed like endless rows of onions in the hot high-desert sun as a younger man.
Edited on Jul 1, 2011 at 1:19amMay '10
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
He goes on to say, however:
About that, I am not sure. In fact, I'd have to say that the evidence I've seen suggests he's wrong. ·
Sorry, I didn't finish reading your whole post because I switched tabs to a Youtube video halfway through. The video was funny, but I don't remember what it was about. Nor do I remember what this comment was going to be about.
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Mark Wilson
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
He goes on to say, however:
About that, I am not sure. In fact, I'd have to say that the evidence I've seen suggests he's wrong. ·
Sorry, I didn't finish reading your whole post because I switched tabs to a Youtube video halfway through. The video was funny, but I don't remember what it was about. Nor do I remember what this comment was going to be about. · Jul 1 at 1:25am
That's okay, I
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
Johann Hari? The hack embroiled in the scandal right now? Chap apparently lifted many of his quotes from interviews from other sources and in some cases, may not even have met the subjects of his long profiles.
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
The very one, but I still liked this article.
May '11
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
I've read 10,000 paper books but like electronic ones better. They come with a built in dictionary for one thing and they don't need dusting.
Oct '10
Re: So For Those of You Who Were Wondering What Happened to Harold Ringbaum ...
If the point is that we have too many electronic distractions-Facebook, Twitter, cable tv or Netflix, yes that's true. But what about the possibility that online reading via Kindle or Nook would allow one to do deeper research regarding a book's topics and ideas, via Wikipedia or other links and sites?
Edited on Jul 1, 2011 at 9:34pm