On The Media (NPR) — Interview with Bob Stein

thanks to a number of people who wrote to say they had heard this on NPR over the weekend.

4 thoughts on “On The Media (NPR) — Interview with Bob Stein”

  1. Richard Pfeiffer

    Maybe I don’t understand what people mean by “the quiet space.” But from what I can tell, it doesn’t disappear when you shift to a networked book.
    Did all of your readers walk up the hill with you to get to the library? Did they follow you into the stacks? Did they accompany you on that moonlit garden stroll where you saw the blooming primrose? Were they there at 3:00 a.m. when you suddenly awakened with the solution to a question you thought you could never answer?
    Instead of my own quiet space informing the book by itself, I am suddenly aided by the quiet spaces of ten or twenty or a million people — whose minds are no less fertile than my own.
    Sounds good to me!

  2. Gary Frost

    Great narrative, very graceful!
    “shift” still seems too binary and too one-way. Another premise is a flowering or renaissance with new growth within an established media ecology.
    On another note it is useful to consider “solitary” writing as constantly enriched by the author’s self-reading. Writing of all kinds is a product of motivated reading.

  3. Edward Visel

    Not to deny the value of a networked book, but maybe the advantages of individualism need to be reconsidered. For instance, when I was writing my thesis, I was at times reticent to let my advisors read it until I had completed an idea, for fear that my ideas would get sidetracked before they were really understood. Once my ideas were to the point where they hung together as a comprehensive whole, I did want feedback and criticism, but at least temporarily, I found value in creative space.
    I suppose I am just worried that we are so caught up in the wave of the socialization of everything that we are neglecting independence. If everyone reads together, the dominant reading may drown out outliers who may be brilliant. Networked reading does not necessarily discourage individualism, but it has the potential to do so.

  4. Margarita Gonzalez

    Hola Mr. Stein,
    I’m preparing a presentation about the importance of the ebook in academia. I will appreciate any information or resources that can help me in that matter. I got your name from the presentation you did recently in Bogota’s Book Fair. Basically, my talk will be like a “pep” talk for librarians to move in this direction.
    Hope to hear from you,
    Margarita Gonzalez
    Head of Reference
    Medical Sciences Campus University of Puerto Rico
    margarita.gonzalez@upr.edu
    (787) 758-2525 ext. 1369

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