Online Books

I am truly amazed by the amount of cynicism directed by some readers toward e-books, as if their existence were a conspiracy to render traditional books obsolete in the spirit of Fahrenheit 451. Much effort has gone into comparing e-publishing to traditional book publishing. An Internet search for “Will e-books succeed?” brings up numerous passionate articles and blogs dedicated to the concept.

Whether individuals express preference or aversion toward e-books, there are multiple reasons related to lifestyle preferences, as well as personal views on technologies, learning methods, and pleasure reading. Some people desire a familiar kinesthetic page-turning experience, whereas others readily accept that paperbacks no longer require paper.

The problem with the e-book/traditional book debate is that e-books have evolved but common perceptions of them have not. Most people are familiar with e-books only as electronic versions of their logocentric counterparts. For example, consider Powerhomebiz’s “Top Ten Reasons Why EBooks are Better than Printed Books” (http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol127/ebooks.htm). This list offers ten convincing reasons why businesses should switch to using e-books. However, one of the most critical and defining components of contemporary e-books is barely implied:

You usually get far more than just the book. Most eBooks are sold with bonuses and related information that usually don’t come with the purchase of a traditional book. You might pay the same or even a bit more for an eBook, but you usually get more, too.

What does it mean to get far more? What are these bonuses? Perhaps the author is referring to hot-links to references and the ability to quickly search the entire e-book for a word or phrase (these features are noted subsequently in the list). Still, the definition of e-book seems rather limited to the traditional text-based approach.

What if we could depart from thinking about books as a collection of words? What if a book could contain video and audio? What if a book could evaluate the reader’s understanding of it? What if multiple intelligences do exist, and what if we could stimulate more well-rounded learning by modifying the definition of “book”?

Before I delve any further into absurdities — after all, everyone knows that words live in books, audio lives in radios, and videos live on TVs — let’s fathom to consider what might happen if these media could be happily married, and let’s use psychologist Howard Gardner’s categories of intelligence as a framework for theorizing how this might impact learning.

Verbal-linguistic intelligence has to do with words, spoken or written. Traditional books cater to this type of learning, thus it carries over to e-books. However, in e-books this kind of learning might be enhanced with audio. For example, what if a reader could click on a word to hear how it is pronounced, or roll over a glossary definition to hear it read aloud?

Musical intelligence is where a person learns aurally through rhythms. What if book text could be instantly turned into a lecture, so the reader could actually listen to the content? What if a reader could click a button to hear a clever rhyme supplemental to the text, designed to help him or her remember a concept?

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence deals with muscle memory and learning by doing, rather than by reading or hearing. Imagine if a student could read about architectural concepts, and then follow step-by-step videos to build projects (and have the ability to pause the videos when necessary). Similarly, a dance student might find it more useful to observe and follow a video embedded within a dance theory e-book than to read about all the physiological and qualitative details of specific exercises.

Spatial intelligence is similar to bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, because it involves learning through visual aspects. People with good visual memory might benefit from embedded videos in e-books just as people more oriented toward bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, since videos potentially offer more sensory stimulation than reading alone. I say “potentially” because learning stimulation is difficult to quantify and is subjective. It is possible to be emotionally or even physically moved by written text, as people more attuned to verbal-linguistic learning might attest.

Considering these four kinds of intelligences — verbal-linguistic, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and spatial — and assuming that people learn through different means, it becomes evident that if we assume the purpose of a book is to instruct it is better to instruct beyond a dominant framework of verbal-linguistic or logocentric intelligence. The only traditional books I’m aware of that have embedded audio, in a sense, are children’s books like Sounds of the Farm by Gail Donovan where the reader can press buttons to hear how animals sound, but the sound cannot be associated with specific parts of the book except through the possibility of textual command to the reader to push a button.

Thus far, I have argued that diverse reading experiences could be enhanced through the integration of aural and visual stimuli with traditional text-based books. However, I have only touched upon four of Gardner’s original seven intelligences. If, by this point in the article, anyone still doubts that e-books can theoretically offer a more comprehensive learning experience than traditional books, I believe any hint of skepticism will be erased after exploring what e-books could do for the remaining three intelligences.

The notion of self-reflection is a dominant theme in contemporary education theories, and was identified by Gardner as intrapersonal intelligence. Interaction with others is interpersonal intelligence, in which learning occurs through discussions and participation in group activities where a person directly encounters others’ perspectives. E-books have the ability to stimulate self-reflection and group interaction if they could be integrated with online learning platforms, thereby facilitating online discussions and journal-keeping. Furthermore, while students can self-reflect on a traditional book by making lengthy notes in a separate notebook, what if in an e-book it were possible to highlight text, type notes in a pop-up window, and even link notes to text?

Last but not least is logical-mathematical intelligence, which deals with logic and reasoning. Traditionally, instructors have been responsible for assessing students’ understanding of course concepts. But what if a student could take e-quizzes and get immediate feedback on his or her comprehension? This would certainly help students know what they needed to review before class or prior to an exam.

So, let’s stop thinking of e-books as electronic versions of the same book you could pick up at your neighborhood bookstore. What if instead they were dynamic learning environments that addressed all seven of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, and thereby provided a more engaging and meaningful learning experience to readers? Xplana Learning has assumed a leadership role in the development of interactive e-books and online learning platforms. In the above examples, Xplana answers the question “What if e-books could?” as “Yes, our e-book can.” (See http://www.xplana.com/products/products_xb.php).

In the great e-book debate, it’s time to stop worrying whether e-books will to replace traditional books. Individual preference for reading medium is largely dependant on lifestyle. E-books are venturing into a new realm that oversteps the limitations of traditional text-based books. We should be able to appreciate what e-books can add to the learning experience, and consider how we can continue developing e-books in relationship to contemporary educational theories in order to maximize learning outcomes.

What is an antiquarian book ?

The origin of the word antiquarian is derived from the word antique, which simply refers to something that is old, and from a former time. In it’s most common usage, it may refer to either a person who studies, or collects, or deals in old objects, or it may be used as an adjective when referring to the object, itself. For example, a collector of antique lamps, could be called an antiquarian, in general, or an antiquarian lamp collector, while the lamp itself could be called an antiquarian lamp.

For the purposes of this article, an antiquarian book is simply an old, or antique, book.

If you ask 100 people at what age a given object becomes an antique, you’ll probably get a 100 different answers. Exactly what constitutes old is up to debate.

When does a book actually become an antique ? I’ve seen books published in the 1950’s that were touted as being antiquarian, yet, to me that seems too current to be an antique. In my mind, if a book is still part of current, living history, then it shouldn’t be considered as being an antiquarian book. Of course, my living history would be different from the someone else’s living history, so.. the debate continues. (Of course, I have a personal bias here, because I don’t like the idea of something, anything, being classified as an antique, that was new in my own life time.)

For the sake of this essay, I have somewhat arbitrarily decided a book is an antiquarian book if it was published prior to 1923. In the year 2008, that would be about 85 years old. This date coincides with current copyright law that generally removes copyright protection from books published prior to 1923. Since the book protection is expired, I figure it must be old, and antiquarian.

That is not to say that there are no antiquarian books after 1922. There are plenty, I’m sure. For me, it would depend on it’s subject matter. For instance, a nonfiction book about astronomy would be outdated, and eligible to be called an antiquarian book; while a work of fiction would not.

A distinction must be made between books that are collectible, and antiquarian books, in general. Collectible books are not necessarily old books. First editions, signed editions, rare books, often fall far short of being old enough to be called antiques.

Antiquarian books can also be collectible books, too, for a variety of reasons, but they are also collectible for simply being antique. Like so many antiques, their value is in the eyes of the beholder. In order to understand their value, or even the desire to own any antique, per se, is not clearly understandable unless you-yourself like to have antiques.

Generally speaking, antiquarian books really aren’t practical antiques to own. They are usually delicate because of their age, and are often not really suitable for reading, per se. Mostly, they are meant to sit on a shelf, and to be relished by the owner. In some cases, they do require special handling, and environmental storage to maintain their condition, and prevent further deterioration. Obviously, this would apply expensive books.

If you own a very old book, you probably won’t sit down and read it for fear of destroying the book; they are not sturdy enough to read. I speak from experience. I have several books that are over 200 years old that I only occasionally peruse; I would destroy them if I were to sit down and read them.

Even a moderately aged antiquarian book in good condition, with sturdy binding, and pages, will wear quickly when they are opened, and read. Pages tear easily when they are approaching the 85 year old mark. A book in poor condition, such as might have been a library copy, will wear-out much faster.

Are Antiquarian Worth Reading ?

This is actually the subject of another essay in itself, however, in brief, many antiquarian books are still valuable sources of information, and enjoyment. Many of our classical fiction books are antiquarian books. They have been reprinted and repackaged into a more modern form. Many fiction works are in the Public Domain, i.e., their copyright protection has expired, so publishers are free to reprint, and sell them as new. And many have been digitized, and are available as electronic books, i.e., ebooks, for reading on your computer, and various other devices.

Non-fiction books are less likely to be reprinted, though there are many that have been reprinted. It depends on the subject matter. For example, American era history books with subjects such as history of the Civil War, or World War I, etc, would be good antiquarian history books to reprint, or recycle. Since the history of War doesn’t change; the information in the older books are just as valid as a newer book. A good example is the antiquarian book The Civil War Through The Camera, by Henry Elson. The fact is, many current history books rely heavily on antiquarian books as resources.

Generally, antiquarian books that are reprinted are meant more for general public use, rather than for students. For instance, I am a history buff, particularly American history, and American era History, but I’ll read almost anything that is non-fiction that suits my interests. In my opinion, many of these books could serve as text books suitable for students, at a substantial savings in costs, yet they are largely ignored by educators.

The Now and Future of Antiquarian Books.

In my opinion, right now, antiquarian books, are an excellent investment if they were published before 1923. Many of these books are in demand by collectors, and publishers who would like to use them for commercial such as reprinting and selling them, or producing movies, or creating ebooks, etc.

In the past, before the copyright laws were revised, new books would enter the Public Domain every day. Now, because of revised copyright protections there will be few new books entering the Public Domain, for many years to come.

This is not absolute; there will be some books entering the Public Domain, but, because of the complexity of the laws, you need to research each one on a case-by-case basis; the point is, prior to the revision of the laws, many more books would have entered the Public Domain on a regular basis, than now; that will not resume until approximately 95 years after 1923, or about 2017.

More and more antiquarian books are being digitized, and reformatted, and therefore becoming available to the general public. Digitizing antiquarian books, i.e., creating ebooks, has many advantages, such as:

1) Cost and availability. Antiquarian books will no longer be hard to find, or rare.
2) You can actually read them; they won’t be destroyed by using them.
3) Obviously, they won’t wear-out, or degrade with time.
4) They are easy to store.
5) Their information is still valuable.
6) The original printed book version can be enhanced with modern multimedia effects.
7) Readability is enhanced; and the publication can be colorful, and soundful, and printable, and bookmarkable, and searchable. It can include slideshows, and music, and video, and audio, and can include additional information and resources.

The cost of an ebook, whether antiquarian, or newer, can vary widely. There are many antiquarian books that are free. Others, while not free, are still much lower in cost than most printed books.

Of course, there are always disadvantages to ebooks. For example, you need a computer, or some kind of electronic device to read the ebook. If your ebook is designed for a computer, then you need to read it at a desktop computer, or a laptop. Unless you have a laptop, it would be difficult to sit in your easy chair and enjoy your ebook.

There are handheld electronic devices for reading ebooks. Some are designed specifically for ebooks, while others are for more generic personal devices. These are convenient because they can go wherever you go, much like a printed book. These are not portable computers, and do not have all the capabilities that a computer-based ebook has, therefore, they are only suitable for certain types of publications; for example, a fiction book would be a good candidate because it is text-only. In my mind, a major drawback is the size of the text, and the readability.

Computer-based ebook publications are better suited to books that contain multimedia enhancement capabilities, rather than text-only publications. For example, a publication with 100’s of images could include slide shows, and captions, music, videos, audio, etc. While handheld devices are better suited to text-only applications, such as novels, or news feeds, contracts, etc.

I’m sure in the future their will be an electronic device that has all the multimedia capabilities of a desktop computer, packaged in a device that can be easily accessed while you’re sitting in your favorite chair, or sitting on an airplane, etc.

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As previously mentioned, a big advantage of having an antiquarian book in an ebook format is that you can, in fact, read the book without damaging, or destroying the book. And the ebook is preserved for many years to come; you’ll never have to worry about the pages fading, or curling, or becoming damaged, etc.

I am a History Buff; a permanent Student; I love to read about history. When I read history books, I love to study the associated pictures, and illustrations, and photographs, etc. Ebooks allow this with ease; the text is easier to read, and I can jump to associated images/pictures, with captions, and then easily return to the text.

I can bookmark as many pages as I like, and return at a later time. And, I can word search the publication, and then jump directly to a desired page; a researcher, or a student would find this a valuable tool. And then, once found, the information can be easily printed; this is a very handy feature for the researcher.

The Future is heret for Antiquarian Books

The future is here, and bright for antiquarian books. I don’t think it is outrageous to predict that, eventually, every book that was ever printed will be digitized, and therefore will become readily available to anyone who has access to our growing knowledge base.

I would image that many of these books will be translated into other languages, opening-up yet another source of antiquarian books for the masses.

The computer age, and digitization and creation of ebooks has extended the life of every book ever written, and will become an important resource of the future.

Digitization of antiquarian books is the Gutenberg Press of the current era.

The End