The Future of the Book

Does the book have a future? Much current discussion of this question predicts that printed books, brick-and-mortar libraries and bookstores, and traditional publishers will soon be superseded by electronic documents and institutions. The essays in this books strongly suggest otherwise. P. Violi, Preface, G. Nunberg, Introduction, C. Hesse, Books in time, J.J. O'Donnell, The Pragmatics of the New, Trithemius, McLuhan, Cassiodorus, P. Duguid, Material matters: The past and Futurology of the Book, G. Nunberg, Farewell to the Information Age, R. Debray, The Book as Symbolic Object, P. Bazin, Toward Metareading, L. Toschi, Hypertext and Authorship, G.P. Landow, Twenty Minutes into the Future, or How Are We Moving Beyond the Book, R. Simone, The Body of the Text, J.D. Bolter, Ekphrasis, Virtual Reality and the Future of Writing, M. Joyce, (Re)placing the Author: 'A Book in the Ruins', U. Eco, Afterword.