This. Is. Awesome.
Yet even as a mega-reader, I’m still hesitant. The digital age is an Age of Distraction (Nicholas Carr shows this in his important book, The Shallows.) It prevents you from centering your attention and from focusing on the “one thing necessary.” As someone seeking experiences of deep reading, that makes me leery.
I don’t want something that distracts me away from attentive reading, but something that draws me into it.
I don’t want something to tempt me away from linear, rational, logical engagement, but something that makes that type of reading easier.
Because of their unique effects, digital books will impact Christianity as much as anything else for they will undoubtedly change the way that we read the Bible. “Boring” passages will be spiced up with embedded videos, Internet links, interactive maps, and social networking plugins. Vivid colors and attractive graphics will excite the senses. Pretty soon, the idea of just reading Biblical texts will be antiquated.
Yet the addition of all of these ‘extra features,’ besides luring the mind away from deep engagement, also suggests a more subtle message: that the Bible is not exciting, compelling, evocative, and alluring on its own. It suggests that the text is not enough.
This dangerous proposal, which is inherent in most digital mediums, is the one Christians should be most wary about.
(In a related story, a new bookstore opened up in New York city. So what’s the big deal? Well, he stocks only one book.)