The Book: A Dying Animal? (chapter one)

Thanks for your comment, Susan. I like Doris Lessing. I met her once for an embarrasing 3o seconds. But she's certainly a good choice for the award. And I really liked her "oh, god" response when told she'd won.

Anyway, moving forward. I wanted to point out that I was at a FUTURE OF BOOK PUBLISHING event this past week at the library of congress with my friend Art Taylor. He has written on the event really well, and I suggest you go here to find out what he has to say. I'm fascinated--and possibly a little frightened--of what's happening today in regards the industry. Not sure where we're going, really, but it would seem that whatever happens it'll be radically different 30 years from now.

What do you all think? Where are we going? Is the future of the "book" going to be online? Is it going to be interactive, where the "author" will be removed from the text and, instead, we'll have a group of authors (perhaps anonymous authors with avatars) ? Think about this. Is the the paper book a dying animal?