Category Archives: Quotes
Foolish Verses
Thomas Freeman, an Oxford graduate, came to London, as Wood says, “to set up for a poet,” and published in 1614 Rub and a Great Cast, a volume of epigrams, among which are some on Shakespeare and other leading poets of the age. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Poetry, Quotes
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The Earth Shrunk in the 19th Century
“A critical fact in the world of 1801 was that nothing moved faster than the speed of a horse. No human being, no manufactured item, no bushel of wheat … no letter, no information, no idea, order, or instruction of … Continue reading
On Books and eBooks
“Few technological victories are ever complete, and in the case of books this will be especially true. Bookstores will not disappear but will exploit digital technologies to increase their virtual and physical inventories, and perhaps become publishers themselves. So will … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Digitization, Quotes, Social Impact
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Grace Hopper and Other Programmers
Nathan Zeldes writes about Grace Hopper: “…whenever I see this photo, I am reminded vividly of Dr. Susan Calvin, Robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation, as featured in Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot…. Calvin is a strict, prim, spinsterish lady who … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, Programming, Quotes
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On the History of Information
Ann Blair in Salon: “The history of information has developed especially in the last 10 years. It is a subset of intellectual and cultural history, which is a subset of general history. “Information” today typically refers to all the stuff … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Information Overload, Knowledge compilations, Quotes
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Harper Lee on Reading
From a letter to Oprah Winfrey Harper Lee wrote in 2006: “Do you remember when you learned to read, or like me, can you not even remember a time when you didn’t know how? I must have learned from having been … Continue reading
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Libraries: Chicken Soup for the Soul
Rameses II, who ascended the throne in 1300 B.C.E., assembled a library that contained official documents, literature, historical treatises, and works of moral philosophy and proverbial wisdom, science, and medicine. Rameses’ library bears the inscription “the dispensary of the soul” … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, Quotes
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Daniel Bell in 1980 on the “End of the Alexandrian Library”
“Clearly, if the explosion in information continues, it cannot be handled by present means. If by 1985 the volume of information is four (low estimate) or seven times (high estimate) that of 1970, then some other way must be found … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, Quotes
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Librarians Against the Machine
“They can’t build a machine to do our job; there are too many cross-references in this place”—The head librarian (Katharine Hepburn) to her anxious colleagues in the research department when a “methods engineer” (Spencer Tracy) is hired to “improve workman-hour … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, Quotes, Race Against the Machine
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Are You Paying Attention?
Advertising Age: “A recent study found that consumers in their 20s (“digital natives”) switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour… “digital immigrants” (consumers who grew up with old-school technologies, such as TV, radio and print, and adapted to newer … Continue reading
Posted in Information Overload, Quotes
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The Story of Information 