Jim;

The dictionary is an excellent example. We were taught how to use a dictionary to determine the correct spelling of a word. That was an exercise taught to us in the fifth grade. It is amazing how much you can learn from a dictionary! It is like a “mini encyclopedia”. Add to the list a good Thesaurus. Compare a Thesaurus in book form and one on your computer.

Encyclopedia’s are another type of reference book that I have enjoyed reading since I was 10. While looking for a specific topic I discovered so many other things that I enjoyed learning as well. I do not have that same feeling of enjoyment from an electronic encyclopedia, as I feel I am looking at the world through an electron microscope. Talk about ‘tunnel vision”!

One example of a set of encyclopedia’s at work is the following. You have a paper to write or want to learn about an event. You open your encyclopedia and within a few minutes you have 6 or more volumes open with bookmarks. As you go back and forth between the various books you obtain the information you require. Additional books are opened and book marked as your quest continues. Before you know it you have 12 books opened in addition to your encyclopedia’s.

It is not uncommon for me to use at least two different encyclopedia’s to research any thing I am interested in. I use at least five different sources for any reference work I do – there is generally more than one opinion on any given subject – just like in programming. Try doing this with a computer. By the way I have 4 computers on my network at home and the thought of using each one as a different source of information for the same topic does not interest me.

To me the experience of reading a book is a source of joy while trying to use a computer for the same purpose is not as rewarding.

Perhaps some day it will only be required to have someone point a device like a bar code scanner gun, pull the trigger while pointed at you and you will have all the knowledge someone has determined you should possess. That is an interesting thought! No pain learning – but who will decide what you should know? The politicians of course!


Tom


>>>I cannot imagine using a computer to read anything serious but that is the “vision” we are getting from many sources.
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>>FWIW, I don't see myself using the computer for serious reading either. (And, while I haven't counted the books I've read in my life, I wouldn't be surprised to find it in the neighborhood of 10,000.)
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>>However, with the Hacker's Guide, we're talking about reference material, and making it available where you use it. Many of the reference section entries fit on a single screen and few require more than one pgdn.
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>Following along Tom's theme, I personally have reaped huge benefit from printed reference books over electronic "books" (I really do think we should use a different word for these).
>A dictionary is my best example, though I think it applies to rference books in general. I can't tell you how much I've learned just in 'travelling' the pages and columns to the word I really need. Words catch my eye and I read those too. Another thing that I find myself doing, and I bet I'm not alone, is trying to make a rough guess at where to open the book to be close to where I want to be. This has nothing to do with "learning", but it does help the development of one's spatial (I suppose) acuity. It may also indirectly help to learn to relative standings of frequency of first-letters usage in our words, which seems a helpful bit of knowledge.
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>None of these happen, at least not naturally, with electronic "books" and this is another reason that I favour printed over electronic.
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>Nevertheless, I make an exception for the Hacker's, but I do believe that its secret is the care taken with the .CHM 'construction'.
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>Jim
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>>Tamar