BABBLE BOOKS

by Melodie Johnson Howe

In the Los Angles Times Business section, December 29, 2010, was an article titled “The Book as Collaboration.” The subtitle was: “Bob Stein foresees the evolution of reading from solitary pursuit into communal activity.”

The subtitle is misleading. Mr. Stein is not talking about book clubs, but about what he calls “social reading and writing.” The reporter, Nathaniel Popper, explains, “In the world imagined by Stein, readers and authors will be in such constant communication that the line between them will begin to disappear.”

Stein, 64, has been on the cutting edge of computer technology for years. He foresaw the Internet before there was one. And pre-Kindle, he had developed software for the laptop that allowed you (the user) to turn pages and read content like a book. He is the head of the Institute for the Future of the Book (all irony intended?), which receives funds from the MacArthur Foundation and is affiliated with USC.

According to the article, Stein foresees the time when an author and readers can write a book together on the Internet. Yes. Soon a reader will be able to make notations in the margins of an author’s work (à la Kindle), not for their own benefit but for the writers. Mr. Stein says, “We’re leaving the age of the individual. . . . We’re heading toward a much more collaborative culture.”

The reporter states, “The institute also published a book on a website where readers could help shape the final product by commenting while the author was still writing.”

Now we have the author as the head of a board meeting of readers. So instead of Treasure Island, we’ll get something like the reality show Survivor. Or The Great Gatsby becomes The Bachelor. Madame Bovary is now Desperate Housewives. I could go on and on.

Please understand I am not putting down readers, I am an avid reader myself. BUT I didn’t know I wanted to read about Phillip Marlow until Raymond Chandler created him. Again, I could go on naming famous characters and their single creators.

Collaboration has always existed in movies, the theater, and even books. The difference is that all these collaborators have one word in common: professional. They know their art, their craft. So to me this new nerdy concept is either populism run amok or it’s socialism, which always runs amok.

Mr. Stein does not seem concerned about losing the artist as an individual. He’s excited about creating a book as if it’s a game of Scrabble. He has nothing against books, in fact his picture is taken sitting in front of shelves filled with them. He said that he still likes books, especially when you go into somebody’s house—you can tell what they like and don’t like by the books they have. “ . . . it’s as much about social glue as it is about the content of the book.” So books are relegated to the level of, “what’s your sign?” in order to break the ice? I guess a lone Kindle on a long empty shelf doesn’t work for Mr. Stein because the titles of the book are hidden inside and that’s not good for social conversation. Can this man just knock back a martini and relax?

I was going to say that Mr. Stein means well, but as a writer I can’t say that. I don’t think he means well for the arts. For what it takes to be an artist. Or to be a working writer. I don’t think he cares at all for the author’s intent, let alone the author’s voice. Or should I now say voices. Nor does he seem to bother with that ugly word money. Is no one to get paid for his or her creative work? Or will the author and the readers all get paid? I’ll talk to my accountant and get back to you on that.

Maybe Mr. Stein never foresaw one author, one artist. Maybe that cutting edge concept doesn’t fit in the bandwidth of his brain. All I know is if what he foresees becomes a reality he will have created a new genre: Babble Books.

Slightly off topic. How do you dedicate a novel to your grandchild if they only read from a Kindle? I treasure my gift of Little Women that my grandmother gave me many years ago. But I treasure her inscription more.

RIP

I just read that the actress Anne Francis died. She will mostly be remembered for the science fiction movie Forbidden Planet and for the Spencer Tracy vehicle Bad Day at Black Rock. But I’ll remember her for the TV show “Honey West.” A sexy PI driving a Cobra. She was my idol. Honey West and Modesty Blaise are two great fictional heroines.