|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Jan 31, 2012 11:50:22 GMT -6
There really is no future for hard copy books. Within ten to twenty years, they won't even exist, except for relics in museums. Perhaps even sooner than that. The only reason I would even buy a hard copy book today is that it is not available for my Kindle, and I really want it that badly. Plus consider that all the books printed on cheap high-acid content paper are going to be dust anyways within a century or so, unless some expensive preservation measures are taken. Plus consider that they can be scanned and converted into digital media anyways. I have various collections of hard copy books, including Sanskrit, Bengali, Oriya and Hindi books, art books, cook books, nature books, books on anatomy and painting techniques, etc. and they currently have some intrinsic value beyond just being books, mainly due to rarity or the images that are in them in addition to the text. Then there is my music library, which is just scores in print of classical, jazz and pop music. It has current value only because it is not practical to read a score off my Acer notebook and easily turn pages. I suppose soon there will be some digital foot pedal to turn the pages, but someone needs to bring one to market. I don't see symphony orchestras of the future with music stands and hard copy scores. The will have digital scores and foot pedals to turn pages. It is just a matter of time. They may also not be sitting on the stage together, but rather performing online via holograms of themselves, and maybe even the conductor will be directing the orchestra via a holographic projection of himself/herself.
Kirton does not need to be done in physical proximity either. It can done online. A friend of mine who plays bass performs on stage in Europe and often records online with the same musicians in Europe, although he lives in Indiana.
Technology is having a greater impact on our lives with each passing year. Books are not immune to those changes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nitaidas on Feb 1, 2012 14:14:11 GMT -6
We really need to preserve some of your rare books baba. Can we start a program of scanning them and posting them. The very process of scanning some of them may be their end. But if we have scanned images, then we can consign their woody bodies to a grantha samadhi.
|
|
|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Feb 1, 2012 15:12:04 GMT -6
I don't have any scanning equipment. If you want to come and get them and start scanning them, then feel free to do so. The old Murshidabad editions are going to have contrast issues, however, since the paper is so brown. It is also a challenge to even turn pages without cracking them on some of those old books. They first need a round of deacidification, which is not cheap.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nitaidas on Feb 1, 2012 16:16:26 GMT -6
I don't have any scanning equipment. If you want to come and get them and start scanning them, then feel free to do so. The old Murshidabad editions are going to have contrast issues, however, since the paper is so brown. It is also a challenge to even turn pages without cracking them on some of those old books. They first need a round of deacidification, which is not cheap. I will contribute to that cause. Some of those books are priceless. Maybe some of the other will too. Let's get them deacidified and scanned, baba. I'll bring up my own scanner. |
|
|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Feb 3, 2012 16:49:15 GMT -6
Sounds like a plan. Let's not do it this weekend though. I just passed a kidney stone this morning and don't need any labor intensive projects for the next few days.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nitaidas on Feb 3, 2012 17:46:03 GMT -6
Sounds like a plan. Let's not do it this weekend though. I just passed a kidney stone this morning and don't need any labor intensive projects for the next few days. You are always full of surprises, baba, and I guess kidney stones. Who but you would announce this in a public forum? Anything else we should know? |
|
|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Feb 5, 2012 10:11:22 GMT -6
I'm fine today - fully recovered (more or less). Thanks for your heartfelt concern.   Oh that's right, others may be reading this thread. Uhh hmm....CT (clearing throat) lol Well, as far as the preservation effort goes, there is always the option to encapsulate pages in plastic, which is probably going to be necessary for some of those pages, since they are too far gone even for deacidification. I have no idea what that may cost, especially with the rising price of plastic. If only people would stop burning petroleum in their vehicles, then the price of plastic would come back down. Then there is always the option to copy them by hand onto something more durable, like dried palm leaves. I can feel my hand cramping up already. I don't think I care for that option. Plus, I don't even have a supplier for dried palm leaves. I could copy them by hand digitally with Corel Painter and my graphics tablet, but then again the same issue - writer's cramp. Whatchagonnado? It is such a no win scenario on a non-existent budget. A robotic arm to program to copy texts with the graphics tablet even costs a couple hundred bucks, although using the scripting language to program it would take a lot less time than my copying the texts in my free time.   |
|
|
|
Post by Nitaidas on Feb 5, 2012 14:42:31 GMT -6
Sounds like a hopeless case. Is it all or just parts of the books that are already too far gone?
|
|
|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Feb 6, 2012 14:53:25 GMT -6
It depends on the book. Almost all the books are actually in good condition, especially all those ones Jaisaci had bound in leather. It is just a few that are disintegrating. Some of them have certain pages that are cracking off, others are brittle throughout all the pages. The worst part is the misguided repairs of torn pages using Scotch tape, which was already done when I purchased the collection from him. Thirty years from now, I don't know that the ones in good condition will still be in good condition. It all depends on the quality of the paper used in the printing.
|
|
|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Feb 7, 2012 8:46:30 GMT -6
As far as any of the books being priceless, that is really a relative term. Yes, they are extremely rare, but on the other hand the audience for them is extremely limited. They are not the Dead Sea Scrolls, nor are they hand written palm leaf manuscripts.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nitaidas on Feb 8, 2012 9:38:21 GMT -6
As far as any of the books being priceless, that is really a relative term. Yes, they are extremely rare, but on the other hand the audience for them is extremely limited. They are not the Dead Sea Scrolls, nor are they hand written palm leaf manuscripts. Well, they are priceless to us. That is all that matters. The Dead Sea Scrolls are interesting historical artifacts but of little real value outside the scholarly world. Whacked out Jewish sect declared war on the world and died. Human history is full of such delusions. Of more importance in my view are all the gnostic texts discovered at Nag Hammadi. Now those are interesting. Those were many of them the texts that did not make the cut when Christianity settled its canon. And of course they left many of the most interesting out of the canon. I have always thought that at every turn Christianity turned the wrong way! |
|
|
|
Post by cuckoo4cocopuffs on Feb 10, 2012 8:05:03 GMT -6
Good point. I thought Jagat had already incorporated that BP 10th Skanda with all the commentaries into the Grantha Mandir project. It so, then it is more complete than what I have in book form, which is missing a volume.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nitaidas on Feb 10, 2012 11:15:12 GMT -6
Good point. I thought Jagat had already incorporated that BP 10th Skanda with all the commentaries into the Grantha Mandir project. It so, then it is more complete than what I have in book form, which is missing a volume. I don't know if he has done it all. That is a huge amount of material. And besides, there are often mistakes. It is good to have some separate sources to consult when a reading looks wrong or problematic. So don't start any fires in the fireplace with those books yet. |
|
