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Synopsis
We are surrounded by documents of all kinds, from receipts to letters, business memos to books, yet we rarely stop to reflect on their significance. Now, in this period of digital transition, our written forms as well as our reading and writing habits are being questioned and transformed by new technologies and practices. What is the future of the book? Is paper about to disappear? With the Internet and World Wide Web, what will happen to libraries, copyright, education? Starting with a simple deli lunch receipt, Scrolling Forward examines documents of all kinds from the perspectives of culture, history, and technology in order to show how they work and what they say about us and the values we carry into the new age.
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About the Author
David M. Levy has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and has been a researcher at Xerox's high-tech think-tank, PARC, since 1984. He is also an expert on calligraphy and bookbinding. He lives in Oakland, California.
Reviews
Levy's book may not give documents the same cachet that Simon Winchester's The Map That Changed the World gave to maps, but readers will never look at a deli receipt in the same way after finishing this gripping discussion of written forms. With digital media acquiring an increasingly important place in communicating news and ideas, Levy looks at what the continuing transition from print to digital means at both practical and symbolic levels. The Internet and other electronic publishing platforms now deliver information faster than at any time in history, but tend to lose the depth of the printed page, Levy argues. And while there are good reasons to receive certain types of information quickly, there are also good reasons to read an entire printed book at one's own pace. Levy, who has a Ph.D. in computer science as well as a degree in calligraphy and bookbinding, maintains that one isn't necessarily a Luddite because he or she still prefers to read information on the printed page. To help support his position, Levy devotes one chapter to explaining why he prefers reading Leaves of Grass between covers to reading it on an e-book. Still, digital delivery of information has its merits, and striking the right balance between print and digital works is something that needs to be worked out in the years ahead. Although Levy does not come to any striking conclusions, his assessment of how documents work and what they say about our culture and values is a worthy one.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Levy earned his Ph.D. in computer science in 1981, then devoted the next two years to studying calligraphy and bookbinding. This combination of the new and virtual and the old and physical sensitized him to the vast, complex role documents of all kinds play in our lives in matters practical, psychological, and even spiritual. Postulating the broadest possible definition of documents, or "talking things," Levy offers a vigorous, philosophical, and intellectually stimulating interpretative overview of their evolution and impact on culture. He begins with the humblest of examples, a cash-register receipt, and then embarks on a brisk history of paper, printing, the many genres of documents (books, passports, letters, greeting cards), libraries, and the importance of fixity, a topic he broaches by discussing the many editions (online included) of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. As he considers the vagaries of digital technologies versus our craving for order, he expresses unexpectedly poetic insights into our carried-in-the-genes sense that there is a "sacred quality" to reading, even in the age of multitasking. Donna Seaman
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
Seller: Bay State Book Company, North Smithfield, RI, U.S.A.
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
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Hardback. Condition: Good. A fascinating, insightful, and wonderfully written exploration of the document. Like Henry Petroski's The Pencil, David Levy's Scrolling Forward takes a common, everyday object, the document, and illuminates what it reveals about us, both in the past and in the digital age. We are surrounded daily by documents of all kinds--letters and credit card receipts, business memos and books, television images and web pages--yet we rarely stop to reflect on their significance. Now, in this period of digital transition, our written forms as well as our reading and writing habits are being disturbed and transformed by new technologies and practices. An expert on information and written forms, and a former researcher for the document pioneer Xerox, Levy masterfully navigates these concerns, offering reassurance while sharing his own excitement about many of the new kinds of emerging documents. He demonstrates how today's technologies, particularly the personal computer and the World Wide Web, are having analogous effects to past inventions--such as paper, the printing press, writing implements, and typewriters--in shaping how we use documents and the forms those documents take. Scrolling Forward lets us see the continuity between the written forms of today and those of the past. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War I, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. Seller Inventory # 00073690016
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Scrolling Foward : Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
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Arcade Publishing, 2001
ISBN 10: 1559705531
ISBN 13: 9781559705530
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Condition: Good. 1st. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 1425993-6
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Scrolling Foward : Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
Published by
Arcade Publishing, 2001
ISBN 10: 1559705531
ISBN 13: 9781559705530
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. 1st. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 1425992-6
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1559705531I3N00
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardback. Condition: Good. A fascinating, insightful, and wonderfully written exploration of the document. Like Henry Petroski's The Pencil, David Levy's Scrolling Forward takes a common, everyday object, the document, and illuminates what it reveals about us, both in the past and in the digital age. We are surrounded daily by documents of all kinds--letters and credit card receipts, business memos and books, television images and web pages--yet we rarely stop to reflect on their significance. Now, in this period of digital transition, our written forms as well as our reading and writing habits are being disturbed and transformed by new technologies and practices. An expert on information and written forms, and a former researcher for the document pioneer Xerox, Levy masterfully navigates these concerns, offering reassurance while sharing his own excitement about many of the new kinds of emerging documents. He demonstrates how today's technologies, particularly the personal computer and the World Wide Web, are having analogous effects to past inventions--such as paper, the printing press, writing implements, and typewriters--in shaping how we use documents and the forms those documents take. Scrolling Forward lets us see the continuity between the written forms of today and those of the past. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War I, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. Seller Inventory # CIN1559705531G
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
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Arcade Publishing, New York, New York, U.S.A., 2001
ISBN 10: 1559705531
ISBN 13: 9781559705530
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Seller: Books to Die For, The Woodlands, TX, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. VG/VG. First edition. 212 pp. Ex-library copy. Library spine label, stamps. Brodart DJ taped to inside flaps. Top, bottom page edges have library stamp marked out with black marker. Spine square, tight. Front free end paper cut out. Interior bright, clean. No marks. Good reading/research copy. Seller Inventory # 10443
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
Published by
Arcade Publishing, 2001
ISBN 10: 1559705531
ISBN 13: 9781559705530
Used
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Clean read copy with a few minor marking in the first pages. Dust jacket in good condition as well. Seller Inventory # ABE-1783620713729
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Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age
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hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Seller Inventory # S_479323136