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davidjennings's Archive on Apr 09, 2008
Description
This article is in some ways quite a big deal as Nicholson Baker previously wrote a whole book (Double Fold) railing against the digitisation of books. But he seems to be quite at home with 'native' digital publications.
Clipping
Wikipedia is just an incredible thing. It is fact-encirclingly huge, and it is idiosyncratic, careful, messy, funny, shocking and full of simmering controversies - and it is free, and it is fast. In a few seconds you can look up, for instance, "Diogenes of Sinope", or "turnip", or "Crazy Eddie", or "quadratic formula", and you will have knowledge you did not have before. It is like some vast aerial city with people walking briskly to and fro on catwalks, carrying picnic baskets full of nutritious snacks.