IDEO - The Future of Books

First of all, I have to state that despite the fact that I love book design and I do appreciate the awesomeness of books and reading and the journey everyone says they offer, I am incapable of starting and finishing a book like everyone else does. When it comes to reading books I am very easily distracted (I am absentminded most of the time to begin with) and I end up having the completion of a book pending for a long time. I currently have three "open" books waiting (four if short stories count too) to be finished off.

Anyway, IDEO came up with this amazing platform for "reading" books by enhancing the whole experience. These enhancements are divided in three concepts. Nelson, Coupland, and Alice. Readers have the chance to see the writer's sources while at the same time get current stories related to what they are reading with Nelson.  Coupland on the other hand, provides readers a reading list according to what their peers (and people in their companies) are reading. Alice, my favorite, allows the readers to interact with the narrative and storyline in such a way which makes the book more like a videogame. However, Alice stresses me out a bit because I'm a very "what if" kind of person which makes me terrible at picking and choosing. So, I can see me giving the whole thing up as soon as I am prompted to alter the storyline.

The video below describes in full detail The Future of the Book.

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And I Don't Even Like Cake

I am so not a book person. However, if something promises to make me laugh, and bears the critics that this one does, I might get convinced to buy it. Who knows? I might actually read it and even try to finish it in less than the two year timeframe I usually follow...

I have to say, the first two chapters (that’s how much of it I read in the four months I own this book) are deliciously funny... Sloane Crosley could be considered as the Ellen Degeneres of a parallel dimension. (That of New York perhaps?)

Also, I have to shamelessly admit that the “Typo-Graphical eye candy-ness“ of the cover contributed to the purchase of this book...