Comments on: On Books

By: Ethan Siegel

Ethan Siegel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:47:57 +0000

Vonnegut is excellent for his re-readability. Love Cat’s Cradle, Galapagos, and Slaughter-House Five, and many others are also fantastic!

Kudos on both good taste and enjoying some of the best books out there.

By: Philip H.

Philip H. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:21:17 +0000

I had the pleasure of hearing Kurt Vonnegut Jr. lecture about his career in November of 1992 at LSU where I was beginning my graduate work. He was as fascinating to listen to as he was to read. For a southern curmudgeon, he did alright.

As to books, papers, and the written word – my dad is a latin american history professor, who has done nearly all of his academic research in the archival collections in Spain. I remeber well, as a boy, going to the AGI in Seville, and being escorted by my dad back into the stacks. There, in book cases older then the U.S. were all the documents that the Spanish had saved from their attempts to conquor the “New World.” All were hand written, amy were fraglie, and while i could not touch them, the history was seeping out none the less. While warehousing all the paper we produce is a mighty logistical challenge, those pages spoke to me. I only hope that in the furture my great grandchildren can have the same pleasure with words I have written. If its all digital, I fear they will not.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:42:51 +0000

It was 40 years ago last month that I landed in Vietnam to spend a year thinking about why I and my country were there. Having accidentally and fortunately landed a job in the offices (S1) of 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (I was actually trained to be in the infantry) I discovered early on the boxes of books sent from the US as reading material for members of my unit. Miraculously, this is where I was first introduced to Kurt Vonnegut and his novels such as Cat’s Cradle, Player Piano, The Sirens of Titans, and Mother Night. Since then, Slaughterhouse Five has become one of my all time favorite anti-war novels. Within the past five years I have re-read both Slaughterhouse Five and Mother Night, and have concluded that Kurt Vonnegut retains a special place in my heart and mind, and has played an important role in helping a young scared private in the US Army to formulate a strong humanistic anti-war world view. May he rest in peace.

By: magistramorous

magistramorous — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:23:14 +0000

Sorry, but I prefer electronic literature. I hate folding/unfolding newspapers to the right article. With regard to books, a hard copy has a big disadvantage: if you want to know more information or the definition of a word, you also have to carry with you a dictionary or two. Right now, I’m reading “On the Origin of Species” for the first time and it helps that I’m reading it as a PDF for the above mentioned reasons.

By: Catharine

Catharine — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:10:22 +0000

Don’t worry, you can always re-read Vonnegut (I do). You are right that nothing will ever replace the sensual pleasure of a book (for me, anyway). However, I do own a Kindle and find it very useful — especially for traveling or urgent literary needs. We have so many thousands of books that looking for a single volume can consume an entire day — a day which would have been better spent reading the book. There simply is no greater pleasure than reading a book.

By: Anthony McCarthy

Anthony McCarthy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:01:09 +0000

Got to say, if you can get a searchable copy on your computer it makes research a lot faster.

I’ve got such bad cataracts that I’ve got to use very large magnification to read a book. For that computers are good.

By: Michael D.

Michael D. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:48:57 +0000

I had not heard of “vooks”, but I really cannot imagine “reading” one. I want the images in my head while reading a book to be mine. I cannot stand it when a movie or image infiltrates (and contaminates) MY image of the characters and places in a good book. Also, I am happy (and comforted, frankly) with a pile of books by my bed and therefore am not interested in a Kindle or the like. Ditto (strongly) on the Vonnegut and the used book stores.

By: Reggie Greene / The Logistician

Reggie Greene / The Logistician — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:43:31 +0000

I may be wrong, but there is something else about the tangible book that is different, namely it’s “convenience.” It can be taken with you without much effort. It does not require a power source which might not be available for various reasons. You can hand it to someone else. You can more conveniently glimpse a page or two, put it down, glimpse another page or two, put it down, and on and on. It can be passed on to your kids. Its cover can be artistic and attractive in and of itself.

By: Sorbet

Sorbet — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:06:03 +0000

Nothing like a real book to hold in your hand. My private library has about 5000 of them (5138 at the last count), so I can completely understand how you feel.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:30:38 +0000

I feel the exact same way (about books, I’ve only recently been introduced to Kurt Vonnegut). There’s something special about reading other people’s names scrawled across the front pages of a book, or seeing the tear stains in a particularly well-written section of a story. It’s a further connection to fellow readers, and more than that, there’s never any chance of a battery dying or power outage to stop you from getting to the end