The virtues of under-stimulation
An interesting personal essay by Mara Jebsen in 3 Quarks Daily considers the interplay between the senses, technology, and imagination:
I think that every generation likes to accuse the next one of being too weak to withstand large quantities of good, wholesome, character-building boredom, of not knowing how to slow down, to savor. . . . But I’m pretty sure there are two ways to be bored—by overstimulation and under-stimulation. And being over-stimulated is like trying to drink from a fire-hydrant—you don’t get any.
Other news on the web:
The Guardian celebrates independent booksellers, not just in the UK but around the globe, by asking readers to submit photos of favorite shops. Or, we are asked to post a tweet to @guardianbooks giving the name of the book we bought and the postal code of the shop’s location. Many indie booksellers sell e-books now too.
iTunes is selling a multimedia app for a new “amplified edition” of Kerouac’s On the Road, which adds family photos, audio clips of readings, journal entries, music, and more to the original annotated text. Take a look at the trailer for the app.
