Kindling

Newsweek’s recent cover story on the Kindle, Jeff Bezos’ version of an iBook clearly not designed by Apple, is a real hoot. Towards the end of the article all kinds of experts wax philosophical about the death of the manuscript. In the future, it seems, books will no longer end, they will just get footnotes, forever. They will become “more of a process than a product.” It works so well for Hollywood screenplays.

So instead of one person going off by him or herself and actually accomplishing something, narratives will become something akin to boardroom meetings. Well since producers are now “auteurs,” I don’t see why entire book clubs can’t become “authors.” As long as they can make a few decisions without Oprah.

My favorite line – “Michael Chabon will have to rethink how he writes for this medium.”

Yeah, right after he dusts off his Pulitzer.