Easier access.

After almost five years after returning to our remodeled home, we still have numerous boxes of books still waiting to be unpacked. In the last few months I've actually found the time, and the shelf-space, to deal with a couple of these, but there's still quite a bit that will probably continue to sit in boxes for quite a while to come. That being the case, I suppose that I'm in a rather good position to understand why it's often easier to find something on the web than in our own homes - even if we know it's there. On numerous occasions I've found it more productive to run a web search for part of a particular text than to try and find the book I want on my shelves or boxes, or a particular page within the book once I've found it. Five and a half years ago, for instance, I reported on my attempt to find a favorite passage from Joan Didion's Play it as it Lays. And nine years ago I turned to a search engine in order to find the exact wording of a passage I wanted to quote from Thomas Pynchon's V. I've since put a slip of paper in my copy to bookmark that passage, and a couple of others I want to be able to readily get to - though I also know where to look for that particular passage within the Boidem.



Go to: On finding a turtle's voice.