THE BOOK UNFOLDED:
THE FORM OF THE BOOK IN THE 21ST CENTURY

EPISODE NOTES

I don’t think it’s cool to spend the present anticipating the future.
— Kenya Hara, ‘Books as Information Sculpture’, Designing Design

Marshall McLuhan's outdated musings on the book, "haptic Woman", "Renaissance Man" and the "oral tradition" share the mournful tone of René Descartes' perspective on knowledge. The assumptions they rely on about printed text as a superior form of communication linger on today. To add oxygen to the conversation about the death (and new life) of the printed book, I look to Kenya Hara, Jia Tolentino, and Michel de Montaigne.

This essay was originally published in Amphora Magazine, No. 178.