On Aug 3, 2010, at 7:33 AM, Andy wrote:
> It might be something of a generational thing. I experience a much
> less intense version of what you describe -- so for, say, scientific
> papers I can usually get the gist of them on screen, but if really
> need to digest them paper is the way to go.
I feel that way about economic papers too - I'm fine reading them on the screen. But that's a different kind of reading - I almost feel more like a user than a reader. Reading something like Bloom, though, requires a totally different frame of mind - more contemplative, absorbed. I don't know whether it's the associations that the screen has, or something about the physical nature of a glowing text, but it seems harder to achieve that state on a computer than with a book. There may also be something about context - an open book screams context, while a computer screen looks flat, decontextualized. It's like you're jonesing for a hyperlink, just to move on. I'll try to avoid moralizing about the possible effects of this on intellectual life, but I'm not sure how long I can hold off.
Doug