Comments on: Paradise Regained http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7508 The stomping grounds of Tim Carmody, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. It's a long-running conversation about media, journalism, technology, cities, culture, design, books, music, movies, the future and the past. Tue, 14 May 2013 15:49:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Clive Thompson http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7508/comment-page-1#comment-129495 Clive Thompson Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:21:16 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7508#comment-129495 These are fascinating stories, and for me, incredibly personally interesting -- because this past winter and spring I decided to reread Paradise Lost. (Well, technically speaking I was *reading* most of it for the first time; I'd only ever finished the first two or three books back in college.) So I downloaded Paradise Lost from Project Gutenberg and read it over the next few months in bits and pieces, mostly late at night before bed (or during bouts of insomnia) and on the subway. It is, of course, insanely awesome. Anyway, I stumbled across this post today, and wondered -- which version of Paradise Lost do I have on my phone? So I checked and ... ... it's Judy's. Her comment about finally having a scanner is all the more poignant now that I know she (and you, Joseph) typed this thing in by hand. My hat is off. These are fascinating stories, and for me, incredibly personally interesting — because this past winter and spring I decided to reread Paradise Lost. (Well, technically speaking I was *reading* most of it for the first time; I’d only ever finished the first two or three books back in college.) So I downloaded Paradise Lost from Project Gutenberg and read it over the next few months in bits and pieces, mostly late at night before bed (or during bouts of insomnia) and on the subway. It is, of course, insanely awesome.

Anyway, I stumbled across this post today, and wondered — which version of Paradise Lost do I have on my phone? So I checked and …

… it’s Judy’s.

Her comment about finally having a scanner is all the more poignant now that I know she (and you, Joseph) typed this thing in by hand. My hat is off.

]]> By: Bill Tozier http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7508/comment-page-1#comment-47869 Bill Tozier Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:32:03 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7508#comment-47869 There are… let's just say "many subcultures." Distributed Proofreaders doesn't really overlap much with Project Gutenberg (as such), even though it was founded and still operates under the name of that older organization. The folks at ebookforge.net didn't like the way Distributed Proofreaders was going, so they spawned their own effort. Heck, I have two or three complete subcultures of heretical digitizers I want to launch myself. A keyboard is, after all, much simpler to get than a broadsheet press…and how many variants and copies and counterfeits did those produce? Cue that thing about "containing multitudes." There are… let’s just say “many subcultures.”

Distributed Proofreaders doesn’t really overlap much with Project Gutenberg (as such), even though it was founded and still operates under the name of that older organization. The folks at ebookforge.net didn’t like the way Distributed Proofreaders was going, so they spawned their own effort. Heck, I have two or three complete subcultures of heretical digitizers I want to launch myself.

A keyboard is, after all, much simpler to get than a broadsheet press…and how many variants and copies and counterfeits did those produce?

Cue that thing about “containing multitudes.”

]]> By: Joseph Raben http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7508/comment-page-1#comment-47696 Joseph Raben Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:16:01 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7508#comment-47696 When Michael Hart caught up with me at my hideout in metropolitan Queens and asked for a copy of Paradise Lost in what we then called "machine-readable format," I wondered why it had taken years to locate me in the annual members' directory of the MLA. That the story of my invisibility has survived him and seems destined to last for as many decades into the future as it has in the past does not burnish the reputation of the Gutenberg people's skills as literary detectives. By 1991, I had been editing the basic journal in humanities computing, Computers and the Humanities, for over 20 years and had been organizing and attending international conferences during that entire period. Of course, I knew of Hart's endeavors, but why he had not heard of mine puzzled me then and still does. When Michael Hart caught up with me at my hideout in metropolitan Queens and asked for a copy of Paradise Lost in what we then called “machine-readable format,” I wondered why it had taken years to locate me in the annual members’ directory of the MLA. That the story of my invisibility has survived him and seems destined to last for as many decades into the future as it has in the past does not burnish the reputation of the Gutenberg people’s skills as literary detectives. By 1991, I had been editing the basic journal in humanities computing, Computers and the Humanities, for over 20 years and had been organizing and attending international conferences during that entire period. Of course, I knew of Hart’s endeavors, but why he had not heard of mine puzzled me then and still does.

]]> By: Matthew Battles http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7508/comment-page-1#comment-47640 Matthew Battles Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:44:07 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7508#comment-47640 What a lovely tale, Tim, and so lovingly framed. It's like the exertions of Aldus and his Greek assistants to find and correct the books of Herodotus. How did you come across this? And how many more little epics of early DH might there be? What a lovely tale, Tim, and so lovingly framed. It’s like the exertions of Aldus and his Greek assistants to find and correct the books of Herodotus. How did you come across this? And how many more little epics of early DH might there be?

]]> By: Tim Carmody http://snarkmarket.com/2011/7508/comment-page-1#comment-47491 Tim Carmody Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:39:18 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=7508#comment-47491 I thought it would be perfect if Project Gutenberg's e-texts adhered to 80 character widths (like IBM cards). But they're actually (as far as I can tell) 65 characters wide. At least this one seems to be; some appear to go as wide as 70. So if you went one line for each card, Project Gutenberg e-texts would actually be reverse-compatible with IBM cards. I thought it would be perfect if Project Gutenberg’s e-texts adhered to 80 character widths (like IBM cards). But they’re actually (as far as I can tell) 65 characters wide. At least this one seems to be; some appear to go as wide as 70.

So if you went one line for each card, Project Gutenberg e-texts would actually be reverse-compatible with IBM cards.

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