Comments on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog: Libraries Alone Do Not Fill The Soul -- No Matter ...

"There's only one thing that can be le...

2009-09-22T09:53:09.919-05:00
"There's only one thing that can be learned about a person if all those books are replaced by Kindle. They have no soul."
Books can be beautiful pieces of art as well as great purveyors of information. But, just like vinyl records can produce sounds better than a compact disc recording, doesn't mean that my soul is tarnished because I prefer the convenience of a CD. The Slackoisie's lack of appreciation comes from a different life experience than you or I had. It doesn't mean that they are right, it doesn't mean they are wrong... it just means they view things a little bit differently. You can shake your fist at them and stop the conversation, or you can engage them in meaningful conversation of how books are more than the information printed on the page.

"but I've found that many (especially ...

2009-09-22T08:35:51.285-05:00
"but I've found that many (especially people with large personal collections) view their libraries as piece of art rather than information resources."

Maybe you need to hang out with different people. Or maybe the libraries are art, as well as information resources. Or maybe your reduction of books to "information resources" betrays the Slackoisie lack of appreciation of what books offer.

Good point, Jim. My explaination may be flawed, b...

2009-09-21T19:20:24.618-05:00
Good point, Jim. My explaination may be flawed, but the example I pointed to is a Rhodes Scholar now getting his Masters at Oxford. He seems to be doing something right. This article does a somewhat better job of explaining his research method.

The problem with books like Keen's and statements like Greenfield's is that what made us experts, or successful, or impressed our friends and peers isn't the only model that exists. But calling people souless or amateurs because they don't follow the instructions we've laid out for them on how to be "successful like us" is just plain petty.

Somewhere there is a balance between leveraging the experience and knowledge of the GenX/Boomers with the creativity and skills that the Millenials bring to the table.

The weakness of this position is that it confuses ...

2009-09-21T14:50:33.754-05:00
The weakness of this position is that it confuses information with knowledge. People who use books only to get sound bites are indeed probably well served by electronic media, but they cannot claim to have understood the author's arguments, which took the whole book. Ripping things out of context may tell you what you want to hear, but not what the author intended to say. What you describe is not "research," but more usually post facto citation hunting to locate sources that support conclusions you're already reached. As for the way in which millennials believe believe everyone's opinion is as valid as anyone else's, see Andrew Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture," which describes well the death of respect for expertise.

So, to take your argument to extremes (which I lov...

2009-09-21T08:30:37.687-05:00
So, to take your argument to extremes (which I love to do...) why don't we just have the lawyers show up with the receipts for their suits and whoever has the more expensive suit wins? I'm sure you've read this post where the defense lawyer purposely wears a cheap suit and shoes with holes in them. Apparently, he's a pretty fine defense attorney.

Again, I'm not saying that having a great personal library is a bad thing. In fact, it is a great thing. What I am saying is that a great library, in and of itself, is does not a great person make. Knowledge is gained on many levels... print, electronic, personal interaction, and deeds performed. Scott Greenfield writes excellent articles, and they would be excellent if they were on a printed page or on a computer monitor.

My counter to the "lack of library = lack of soul" argument is that it is a shallow person that judges another by the material possessions they collect.

Your "suit" analogy is a poor one - both...

2009-09-21T07:03:40.894-05:00
Your "suit" analogy is a poor one - both do tell you something about the person's soul, because they speak to what the individual values.

Moreover, I would NEVER hire a lawyer who chooses cheap suits. It suggests he either doesn't have the money to be able to afford quality, or he isn't able to appreciate quality and detail, and if he can't pay attention to those little things, he can scarcely be expected to pay attention to the big things, like the fine distinctions upon which a winning argument often turns.

That is an excellent argument if you are celebrati...

2009-09-20T15:28:14.904-05:00
That is an excellent argument if you are celebrating a book as an artifact, not as a purveyor of information. Each format has its advantages, but I'm pretty sure that the physical beauty of a book does very little to enhance the information being supplied.

“For all their cost disadvantages, dead trees smea...

2009-09-20T13:19:28.905-05:00
“For all their cost disadvantages, dead trees smeared into sheets still have excellent battery life, screen resolution, and portability, to say nothing about looking lovely on shelves.”

- By Chris Anderson in Free