Os ninhos de Douglas Coupland / Douglas Coupland's nests

De há uns tempos para cá, Douglas Coupland tem passado algum do seu tempo à frente da televisão a ver episódios de Law & Order e a mascar os seus próprios livros, cuspindo depois as páginas e esculpindo com elas estes ninhos de vespas para tentar responder a questões como: / For some time now, Douglas Coupland has been spending some time in front of the television set watching episodes of Law & Order and chewing his own books, spitting out the pages and sculpting these wasp nests, trying to answer questions like:

Is our bunkered mentality about the sanctity of books more genetic than cultural? Are we no different than wasps defending against intruders when we force students to read Henry James or Nadine Gordimer?

E para chegar, por exemplo, a este tipo de conclusões: / And, for example, arrive at conclusions like:

Since 1991 I’ve witnessed the triumph of the superstore, the near death of the independent bookseller, the rise of Amazon, the rise of the Internet, the comings and goings of the e-book and the rise of the P.D.A. Books are not under siege, but they are evolving and mutating. The more this process disturbs you, the more necessary it might be to try and engage with these changes. Right or wrong, they are inevitable, and the choice for anybody is whether they want to be able to live fully within the future, or whether they want to become a recluse and vanish into the past. The only way to go is forward. It’s all there is.

A resposta está sempre a mudar / The answer changes all the time

A propósito do Pirls (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), um estudo sobre hábitos de leitura realisado a cada 5 anos entre crianças com 10 anos de idade de 40 países pela IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), Chris Meade, um dos co-directores do Institute for the Future of the Book, levanta uma série de questões pertinentes sobre a leitura e a literacia, a mais importante das quais se relaciona com o papel desempenhado pela leitura em suporte digital por oposição à leitura tradicional em papel. A sua visão é uma desdramatização dos que vêem no digital uma ameaça à aquisição de competências de leitura (literacia). Num outro artigo, Meade, que foi director da Booktrust (uma charity britânica que se dedica à promoção da leitura entre as crianças) e ainda antes disso da Poetry Society, chama a atenção para a necessidade de não confundir leitura com livros, uma ligação ainda pertinente mas não exclusiva:

About Pirls (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), a report on reading habits made every 5 years with 10 year-old children from 40 countries by IEA (Intenational Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), Chris Meade, one of the co-directors of the Institute for the Future of the Book, raises a series of important questions about reading and literacy, the most important of which is related to the role taken by reading on digital suport as opposed to traditional reading on paper. He refuses to dramatize what some see as a threat to the aquisition of reading skills (literacy). In another article, Meade, who was director of Booktrust (a British charity dedicated to the promotion of reading among children) and before that of Poetry Society, points to the need of not confusing reading with books, an obvious connection but not necessarily an exclusive one:

"I’ve been struck recently by how so much reading promotion cuts literature off from other media, as if anyone still lives solely in a ‘world of books’. We all exist in a multiculture now, and there’s a need to look much harder at how we connect ideas gleaned from tv, websites, books and real life conversations to patch together our personal stances and narratives. (...) Where do literature and stories fit in our lives? That’s the question I’ve always been most interested in. The answer changes all the time".

Mais reacções ao Kindle da Amazon / More reactions to Amazon's Kindle

O post the Steven Poole - The Kindle doesn't light my fire (literalmente)- no blog do Guardian Unlimited dedicado aos livros e um dos comentários que se podem ler a seguir: / The Steven Poole's post - The Kindle doesn't light my fire (literally) - at the Guardian Unlimited blog on books and one of the comments you can read next:

(...) think of the social potential of a mobile phone combined with an ebook reader:
"I'm outside Boots - Reading Proust."

O futuro da leitura / The future of reading

O artigo de Steven Levy na Newsweek sobre Jeff Bezos, o patrão da Amazon, empresa que acaba de lançar um e-book reader: Kindler e que se prepara para uma ofensiva de larga escala na comercialização dos livros digitais. Confrontar com a reacção de Seth Godin (via Blogtailors). Consultar o vídeo demonstrativo aqui. / The article by Steven Levy in Newsweek about Amazon's Jeff Bezos on the launch of their e-reading device Kindler and on their large scale initiative to promote e-books. Check Seth Godin's reaction (via Blogtailors) and watch the video here.

Ensaio sobre a tipografia de Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fénix / Essay on typography in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Por John Hicks (via Jason Kottke). / By John Hicks (via Jason Kottke).

O futuro do dicionário / The future of the dictionary

A conferência de Agosto de 2007, Redefining the dictionary, na TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) dada por Erin McKean, uma das editoras do Oxford American Dicitionary e autora de obras como That's Amore, Verbatim (ed.) e da colecção Weird and Wonderful Words. A lexicógrafa é também responsável pelo blog Dicitionary Evangelist. / The August 2007 TED (Tecnology, Entertainment, Design) conference - Redefining the dictionary - given by Erin Mckean, editor in chief of the Oxford American Dicitonary and author of such books as That's Amore, Verbatim (ed.) and the Weird and Wonderful Words series. The lexicographer is also responsible for the blog Dictionary Evangelist.

Catálogo IKEA 2007 / IKEA 2007's catalogue

A versão do catálogo IKEA 2007, integral e no formato original, reduzida apenas aos seus elementos estruturais e cromáticos, por Jason Salavon. / A fullsize reproduction of the entire IKEA's catalogue for 2007 reduced only to structural elements and colour, by Jason Salavon.

Dear Annie

O trabalho de uma jovem artista californiana, Annie Vought.

Livros de pano / Fabric Books

no blog da Rita.

Embalagem económica / Value pack

Robert Bolesta, Oxford, Pennsylvania, 1987 O alfabeto feito a partir de embalagens de carne picada, moldadas à mão, embaladas e fotografadas individualmente.
The alphabet made of raw hamburger. Each character hand-shaped, packaged, and photographed individually.

Book-cut sculptures

Su Blackwell, Sheffield, UK, 1975 - The Secret Garden (finding the door)

Caetano Veloso - Livros / Books

Tropeçavas nos astros desastrada

Quase não tínhamos livros em casa

E a cidade não tinha livraria

Mas os livros que em nossa vida entraram

São como a radiação de um corpo negro

Apontando pra expansão do Universo

Porque a frase, o conceito, o enredo, o verso

(E, sem dúvida, sobretudo o verso)

É o que pode lançar mundos no mundo.

Tropeçavas nos astros desastrada

Sem saber que a ventura e a desventura

Dessa estrada que vai do nada ao nada

São livros e o luar contra a cultura.

Os livros são objectos transcendentes

Mas podemos amá-los do amor táctil

Que votamos aos maços de cigarro

Domá-los, cultivá-los em aquários,

Em estantes, gaiolas, em fogueiras

Ou lançá-los pra fora das janelas

(Talvez isso nos livre de lançarmo-nos)

Ou - o que é muito pior - por odiarmo-los

Podemos simplesmente escrever um:

Encher de vãs palavras muitas páginas

E de mais confusão as prateleiras.

Tropeçavas nos astros desastrada

Mas pra mim foste a estrela entre as estrelas.

Caetano Veloso, Livro, 1997

***************************************

You stumbled clumsy over the stars
We practically had no books at home
And the town didn’t have a bookshop
But the books that came into our lives
Are like the radiation of a dark sun
Pointing into the expansion of the Universe
Because the sentence, the concept, the plot, the verse
(Unquestionably and particularly the verse)
That’s what might be able to give new worlds to the world.

You stumbled clumsy over the stars
Not knowing that the happiness and unhappiness
Of that road that goes from nothing to nothing
Is books and moonlight against culture.

Books are transcendent objects
But we can love them with the same tactile love
We attach to cigarette packs
Tame them, cultivate them in aquariums,
In bookshelves, birdcages, in bonfires
Or throw them out of the window
(Maybe that will prevent us from throwing ourselves)
Or – what’s much worst – because we hate them
We can simply write one:

Fill many pages with vain words
And put more confusion into bookshelves.
You stumbled clumsy over the stars
But for me we were the star of all stars.