A reissue of the book that first examined the future of reading and literature in the electronic age, now with a new introduction and Afterword...
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Nov 02, 2010
I probably shouldn't even talk about this book considering I didn't read the entire thing...what would VirJohn think? But, I will have the self-restraint to not give it a star rating. Instead, I'll just respond to it.
I've read a few of the most applicable chapters from this book, and have adapted it into a lit review, but I might be missing aspects of Birkerts' argument. However, this is what I've picked up from what I read: Birkerts isn't optimistic about what the internets are g More...
I've read a few of the most applicable chapters from this book, and have adapted it into a lit review, but I might be missing aspects of Birkerts' argument. However, this is what I've picked up from what I read: Birkerts isn't optimistic about what the internets are g More...
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Aug 02, 2011
Birkerts somewhat awkwardly combines the format of a memoir of his youth as a bookish teenager and son of Latvian immigrants (Mom approved of his reading habit, Dad didn't) with a soft-spoken jeremiad--more of a meditation, really--about reading, its place in our lives and its possible demise under the onslaught of sites like this one and the rise of digital culture. In the memoir sections, I especially liked the parts about being a bookstore manager and habitue (as a former bookstore employee,
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Feb 22, 2010
Lauren
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I appreciate the points Birkerts is trying to make about reading, but I was prevented from really getting into it because I was put off by the language. It's too flowery for my taste - the subject doesn't lend itself well to lush prose. Ironically, he was inspired to write about this after students in one of his short story classes felt the same way about a Henry James story.
I really did want to like this. Especially because, like me, Birkerts spent his formidable years working in a More...
I really did want to like this. Especially because, like me, Birkerts spent his formidable years working in a More...
Nov 28, 2008
Bill
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Birkerts is on to something here. While he's certainly not the first to realize electronic gadgetry addiction is dumbing us down, he writes some compelling essays that illustrate his point very well. I enjoyed reading this book. Why "only" 3 stars? Not all of his essays are approachable. His erudition shows through sharply and he enjoys showing off with muscular prose; overselling his point. Had he simplified it a bit, written "down market", if you will, to a more plebeian re
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Dec 18, 2008
Sarah
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A strong argument for why reading literature in book form is so important, exactly at the time when readers are abandoning books for newer modes and technologies (Kindle, electronic downloads, etc.)--or, sadly, not reading at all. Birkerts also makes a compelling case for solitary contemplation, facilitated through books, in an age where everything is becoming connected on all fronts. The reader can tell Birkerts is partially in awe of the new technologies, but mostly heartbroken as he realizes
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Mar 01, 2007
Ori
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A beautiful book about reading. There's no bludgeoning of the senses, just a pleasant, thoughtful read.
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Oct 17, 2010
Paul
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This was an interesting book. I can see Birkerts point that reading and morality have changed a lot since the 1950s. Of course, he goes to great length to avoid explicit discussion of morality, but for me the same arguments apply.
What I don't agree with the author is his assertion that technology is the antithesis of depth and reflection--soul as he calls it. As a pro-techie, I find that technology allows me to explorer a broader range of ideas and empowers me to study any one of thos More...
What I don't agree with the author is his assertion that technology is the antithesis of depth and reflection--soul as he calls it. As a pro-techie, I find that technology allows me to explorer a broader range of ideas and empowers me to study any one of thos More...
Jun 15, 2008
Amy
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I thought I would agree more with this author bemoaning the fate of reading since I see first-hand in teaching American literature how few of my students actually read ... or have ever read a book for that matter. As the author says, it's true that many people in the youngest generations are more comfortable with television, movies, and the internet than they are with a book. It's true that students seem to more often have difficulty understanding literature without being guided through it. I of
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Jan 01, 2012
Mark
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This book is organized in three parts, and the first, which focuses on the process of reading, is the best. Birkerts argues that something nearly spiritual happens when we read that doesn't happen with other activities. A self-proclaimed Luddite, Birkerts suggests that reading alters time and leads to duration, where authors have authority and readers reconstruct their souls. After an excellent beginning, the book becomes a bit heavy handed. Overall, I think the author had some prescient things
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Oct 12, 2007
Dan
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The first 1/3 of this book is beautiful. The author takes his time explaining how books have changed his life and how books impact us on a daily basis. He talks about his idea of "deep time" which is time that we don't know is passing because we are so enmeshed with our books. After the first 1/3 of the book, though, he kind of goes downhill. The next 2/3 of the book are a pretentious and pedantic verbal abuse of electronic technology and high-minded literary criticism. It's inter
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Dec 23, 2010
Brad
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Mr. Birkerts is taking a go at the coming of digital media as an old-school literary critic should. Birkerts is acting as a romantic who sees the book as the apex of collective spirituality/humanness. What's the worst we can expect in losing the physical form of knowledge (i.e., the bound book)? A privatized, class-based availability of knowledge? A frozen stratification of the education/professional system? I think we can live with out that.
May 25, 2008
Rochelle
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The author of this book might sound a little nuts because of his conservative views on technology, reading, and the future of the printed word. I laughed at his thinly veiled disdain towards any attempts to revise and open up the canon.
However, I was struck by the core argument of his book of essays: something is being lost (depth, perhaps) in this noisy, laterally expanding, technologically dependent world that we now live in. Birkerts laments that the destabilization of the author an More...
However, I was struck by the core argument of his book of essays: something is being lost (depth, perhaps) in this noisy, laterally expanding, technologically dependent world that we now live in. Birkerts laments that the destabilization of the author an More...
Oct 13, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
I re-read Gutenberg Elegies recently. While I disagree with some of
his positions on digitization (no surprise to those who know me), he
has some beautiful passages on readings and the life of a reader.
I particular like his description of how reading gives one the
feeling that life has a shape that we just may not be able to "read"
at the moment.
his positions on digitization (no surprise to those who know me), he
has some beautiful passages on readings and the life of a reader.
I particular like his description of how reading gives one the
feeling that life has a shape that we just may not be able to "read"
at the moment.
Sep 05, 2011
Bruce
rated it:
Sven Birkerts adds to the growing body of literature and experience regarding a non-reading culture. When we do not read, we also loose our ability to learn deeply. And we loose our ability to converse. A must-read... for a society that appears to be reading less and less (though some evidence exists that say American is changing some).
Feb 12, 2011
Sarah
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An interesting and helpful reflection on how reading literature is a different experience than the kind of reading we do online. Discusses the depth and self-reflection required to really engage with good novels, and the different way that orients a reader to the world. I don't share his alarm for all text electronic, but I do agree that reading fiction requires more commitment and stamina from a reader than does reading online. Overall, I enjoyed the thoughtful essays and appreciated the opp
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Sep 02, 2011
Carissa
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I found a dusty and slightly moldy old copy of this book in my university's study abroad library in Costa Rica, full of underlines and marginalia. It was the perfect book to read then, when I was cut off from most of the technology I normally use, and when I had time every morning and night to read leisurely and understand the arguments the author was making as they applied to me.
I enjoyed the writing throughout, and I particularly enjoyed Parts II and III, although the section on h More...
I enjoyed the writing throughout, and I particularly enjoyed Parts II and III, although the section on h More...
Jul 27, 2009
Drew
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I've been teaching "The Owl Has Flown" for a year now, so I finally picked up the book from which it came. Sadly, most of this book is pretty far out of date in terms of technology; however, Birkerts was eerily dead on with most of his predictions for a modern intarnet-connected world. As a funny anachronistic aside, Birkerts felt the need to define Hypertext in one of the essays; now that's old! (1995).
Nov 02, 2009
Snail in Danger (Sid)
rated it:
This is better at the beginning than it is at the end (though "The Death of Literature" is an outlier here). The parts about the subjective experience of reading are good and timeless - the parts about how new technology will destroy us all seem overstated to me. (And somewhat dated; but this is only natural.)
Mar 07, 2008
Tiffoknee the 3rd
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Sven Birkerts is one of my favorite social commentators. He primarily writes about literature and its place in the current digitally-dominant intellectual landscape, but he is also a man who knows how to coin a worthy phrase. Any who know me know that I have a special weakness for the essayist. I think the essay is one of the most under-appreciated genres in the literary world. Birkerts proves me right. While some of the themes may seem outdated and proven inconsequential as a result of the
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Jun 28, 2008
Julene
rated it:
This book spoke to me about the loss of wisdom we are experiencing in our culture as a result of electronics that speed up our sense of time. Sound bites. Speed that our brain tries to keep up with. When I read this I was in an intensive of Continuum Movement titled Portals of Perception surrounded by rolfers. Sven is an intellectual who weaves incredibly rich sentences. I have his newest book on my list, The Art of Time in Memoir, part of teh Graywolf series on craft. He is the perfect author f
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Jul 14, 2008
Joy
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Birkerts makes a number of good points in this book about how reading and writing occupy a less-esteemed place in contemporary society. The later chapters on the Internet feel a bit dated (the book was published in 1994), but he makes astute predictions on how the broadening of social networks and increasing number of voices available for access make it difficult for any dominant voice to occupy one's attention for long. Long-winded at times. I liked the bits of personal history revealed in the
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May 27, 2008
Portia
rated it:
Insightful and interesting for the person who loves books (but most of all fiction). I also recommend this title to people who work in print media and specifically book publishing. It is amazing that his insights and observations are already becoming out-of-date; proof of the rapidity of our changing environment. Still, these essays, though somewhat nostalgic, offer fascinating ideas for consideration.
Oct 14, 2009
Jaime
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I really enjoyed this - some real food for thought. Some of the essays drag a bit, but the good ones make up for them.
Aug 29, 2008
Rae
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Sometimes it's fun to read jeremiad books...In this one (written in 1995) the author debates the shelf life of books as a source of information...are they dying? or dead? His thoughts certainly made me want to simplify and rid myself of all the fancy electronic tools that make life so much easier...I say as I type this into a computer database...
Mar 23, 2008
Laura
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I loved the thoughtfulness of this book. Yes, many technologies aid us in terms of efficiency and interconnectedness, but is anyone thinking about what we lose in terms of breadth and "deep time"? His concern about the lack of a well read population outside of academia inspires me to add some classics of the cannon to my to-be-read list.
Jan 22, 2008
Sarah
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I wish I could give this a 4.5.
It's a well-written and interesting collection of essays on books and reading, but it is very self-indulgent at times and gets painfully autobiographical.
But that aside, it's enjoyable and I must say the introduction and first essay got my attention.
It's a well-written and interesting collection of essays on books and reading, but it is very self-indulgent at times and gets painfully autobiographical.
But that aside, it's enjoyable and I must say the introduction and first essay got my attention.
Jul 24, 2008
Unky
rated it:
A treatment of the future of reading in the digital age, c.c. 1994. I'm glad that although we may go to the computer for movies, music, or visual art to settle a bet, we still go to the bookshelf when literature is concerned. :)
