Are we ready to say bye to books was the provocative title of a BBC article last Friday on Kindle DX, an e-reading device nearly as big as an A4 sheet of paper.  After spending some time discussing how it will work and how much it will cost, the article never really gets round to [...]

Goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg developed the first printing press in Western Europe (circa 1440).  The technology was based on screw-presses that were already being used to press cloth and grapes.  The genius of the Far East had already beaten him to it though, inventing woodblock printing and moveable type (after which a modern weblog management tool [...]

One of my favourite authors is the communications theorist and cultural critic Neil Postman.  I found his classic book Amusing Ourselves to Death so powerful that I don’t own a TV.  This makes for astonished intakes of breath at parties.  But I find his analysis of contemporary society – that it more closely resembles Huxley’s decedent Brave [...]