[gorjuss] This is not the end of the book

[Giles Turnbull]

Over Christmas I read "This Is Not The End Of The Book" by Umberto Eco
and Jean-Claude Carriere:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-End-Book-Jean-Philippe/dp/1846554519/

It was sitting on the "New books" shelf in the town library, and the
unusual front cover design made me pick it up.

It's a transcript of the two men's conversations, prompted and curated
by Jean-Philippe de Tonnac, about the past and future of books. It's a
fascinating discussion and an easy read. Both men have huge personal
libraries of tens of thousands of books, and much of the talk is about
their personal devotion to books and book collecting.

The front cover says "Two great men discuss our digital future," but
that's slightly misleading. The discussion of digital books is
limited, and they are dismissed early on. Only real books really
matter, the men decide. Some of the reasons they give seem a bit thin
to me, and little time is given over to considering the benefits of
digital texts and digital distribution.

Amusingly, though, Eco admits that were his house on fire, the first
thing he'd try to save would be his 250GB external hard disk, on which
he stores everything he's ever written. I wonder if anyone's talked to
him about off-site backups.

The discussion is lively and intelligent, pulling and stretching in
all sorts of tangential directions, with de Tonnac doing an excellent
job of chairing and guiding his speakers. Recommended to anyone who
enjoys reading and books, digital or otherwise.