Burning the page : the ebook revolution and the future of reading

A groundbreaking vision on the future of reading, from an early innovator on Amazon's Kindle team.

Is digital the death knell for print? Or will it reinvigorate the written word? What will happen to bookstores, book browsing, libraries, even autographs? Will they die out--or evolve into something new?

In Burning the Page, digital pioneer Jason Merkoski charts the ebook revolution's striking impact on the ways in which we create, discover, and share ideas. From the sleek halls of Silicon Valley to the jungles of Southeast Asia, Merkoski explores how ebooks came to be and predicts innovative and interactive ways digital content will shape our lives. Throughout, you are invited to continue the conversation online and help shape this exciting new world of "Reading 2.0."

For those who love books, collect books, own an e-reader, vow neverto own one, or simply want to know where books are headed, this is a crucial guide to both the future of reading and to our digital culture as a whole.

• How It Started p. xi
• Introduction to "Bookmarks" p. xvii
• The History of Books p. 1
• Bookmark: Reading in Bed p. 9
• The Origin of Ebooks p. 11
• Bookmark: Annotations p. 16
• Launching the Kindle p. 19
• Bookmark: Knapsacks, Book Bags, and Baggage p. 34
• Improving Perfection: Launching the Kindle2 p. 37
• Bookmark: Burning Books p. 43
• The First Competitors p. 47
• Bookmark: Book Browsing p. 58
• The Neurobiology of Reading p. 61
• Bookmark: Love Letters Preserved between Pages p. 67
• Why Books (and Ebooks) Can Never Be Replaced p. 69
• Bookmark: Indexes p. 76
• Igniting Readers at Last! p. 79
• Bookmark: Autographs p. 87
• Wax Cylinders and Technological Obsolescence p. 89
• Bookmark: Used Books p. 94
• Fanning the Flames of Revolution p. 97
• Bookmark: Inscriptions p. 103
• Innovators and Laggards: The New Face of Publishing p. 107
• Bookmark: Bookstores p. 120
• Our Books Are Moving to the Cloud p. 123
• Bookmark: Bookshelves p. 130
• Google: A Facebook for Books? p. 133
• Bookmark: Book Discovery p. 138
• Globalization p. 141
• Bookmark: Dictionaries p. 147
• Language Change: "Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote..." p. 149
• Bookmark: Dog-Eared Pages p. 154
• Education: Print or Digital? p. 157
• Bookmark: Book Covers p. 165
• Libraries p. 169
• Bookmark: Bookworms p. 174
• The Future of E-Reader Hardware: Pico Projectors? p. 179
• Bookmark: Lost Libraries p. 185
• The Future of Writing p. 189
• Bookmark: Degraded Text p. 196
• Digitizing Culture p. 199
• Bookmark: Altered Books p. 210
• Reading: A Dying Art? p. 213
• Bookmark: Attention Spans p. 220
• The Last Digital Frontier p. 225
• Acknowledgments p. 235
• About the Author p. 237