Two old radio dogs, former NPR "Morning Edition" host Bob Edwards and retired NPR newscaster Carl Kasell, were chatting on Edwards' Sirius XM radio show recently.
Both men chuckled as Kasell recalled the time British journalist and TV host Alistair Cooke quoted a young girl who said, "I like radio more than television because the pictures are better."
Watch out, little lady.
I don't consider myself a Luddite, even though I don't own an iPhone and don't plan on getting one until the next time Halley's Comet comes around. (Yeah, I know -- you iPhone/Blackberry folks can access that date instantly, while people like me will have to look it up in some musty, Gutenberg-spawned almanac.)
But I confess I cringed when, the same week I heard those radio elders reminiscing about the good ol' days, I read about the Vook.
The Vook?
It's an electronic, computer-generated video/book hybrid (produced in part by venerated, Gutenberg-style publisher Simon & Schuster).
Whether accessed by computer or mobile thingy, a Vook (and similar data globs that have been variously dubbed v-books, digibooks or multimedia books) come with links and embedded video so that you can, well, see a character or action instead of pestering that poor ol' overworked imagination of yours. True, current v-books also provide links to Wikipedia and other encyclopedic sources, thus backing up imaginative text with merely explanatory text.
In an article on the Vook by Monica Hesse of The Washington Post, the founder of the Institute for the Future of the Book was quoted (yes, there is such a thing).
"The age of pure linear content is going to pass with the rise of digital network content," said the institute's Bob Stein. "Things like the Vook are trivial. We're going to see an explosion of experimentation before we see a dominant new format. We're at the very, very beginning."
As for myself, I'm like that little girl: I'm going to like Gutenberg-ish books better than digibooks because I'm certain the pictures will be better.
In other Web 2.0 news . . .
Some of us Gutenbergs still enjoy browsing in old-fashioned, brick-and-mortar book and record stores because, while we may be scouting for a book on sitar player Ravi Shankar, we may stumble upon, say, "Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East" by Gita Mehta. Such an experience is only fleetingly replicated online by Amazon's "recommendations" and "customers who bought this item also bought . . ." features.
But stumbling through the Web does have its pleasures. When I was searching for the band Rock Sugar recently, Amazon mistakenly took me to "Sugar in My Bowl: Vintage Sex Songs 1923-1952," which in turn led to a whole slew of "rude blues" compilations in the "customers who bought this item also bought . . ." list.
On such albums as "Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon: The Ultimate Rude Blues Collection" and "Eat to the Beat -- The Dirtiest of Them Dirty Blues," the offerings range from the innuendo-drenched and merely naughty, such as Tampa Red's "She Want to Sell My Monkey," to slang-infested ditties that would make Richard Pryor blush.
Along with lesser-knowns such as Sippie Wallace and Boozoo Chavis, these sets also feature such name brands as Dinah Washington and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
No, you likely won't find these collections in any big-box chain store.
Hey, maybe I can get used to a post-Gutenberg universe after all.
Rick de Yampert is The Daytona Beach News-Journal's entertainment writer. He can be reached at rick.deyampert@news-jrnl.com
