The latest gimmick by mags seems to be an offering of reduced renewal costs if one identifies a friend who will get a free subscription. We took advantage of one of these.
However, I must admit that I am relieved not to be still teaching with the apparent shift over from books to computers. I am fortunate to have children who can bail me out when I need help with the latter, but I wonder how my older colleagues are doing with all the notices that they are receiving from our library, etc. on what is and is not available for students.
I used to make research and writing long papers my primary requirement for my students. I did get one reprint of an article from the Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Now with a few late papers I discover that websites are the bibliography.
What does this do to thinking? I enjoyed reading books from all backgrounds and learned much therefrom. But I wonder how many students do more than they have to for courses and, thus, narrow their knowledge span. Certainly much of our political nonsense these days seems so bound in. Obama did international affairs at Columbia as well as law school thereafter. He seems to respect facts — that there actually are such. But one can find anything on the web that one wants to back up the craziest opinions.
Help! What do you think?
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“A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope.” (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent [blind copies]
2 users commented in " Where Is the Written Word Going? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI brought a huge library here with me to the Philippines, since classics and specialty books are not available here in the provinces.
But, thanks to those evil “P2P” Folks and various websites (private and university, including university lectures on podcast), I now have a library of on line textbooks and am busy studying about an interest of mine that dates back to college days: Bronze age Aegean civilizations.
The main problem with computer books is that it is hard to read them “in depth”. I prefer books for this reason.
As for college students: part of the way to learn is to be critical of what you read. This critical thinking needs to be taught, whether or not it is in books or in ebooks.
The problem with the internet is that this discernment is even more needed: look at the “anti vaccine” hysteria, started by a few UKGuardian reporters, but now becoming respectable in the US, even while measles and polio are killing and maiming children in Africa and Pakistan. Sigh.
As the old saying goes: A lie can run around the world while truth is still putting on it’s shoes.
One great advantage of reading books is that it encourages a person to delve more deeply into a subject and thus understand it more thoroughly. Having to work on the research and reading material teaches someone to deal with delayed gratification.
I love computers and the ability to obtain a vast variety and amount of information, but it is a double-edged sword. For every valid and accurate piece of information, there is ten times as much misinformation. One must become adept at discerning the difference to find the truth. Unfortunately, computers have made it much quicker and easier to find information written at the lowest level.
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