Response to William H. Gass article: In Defense of the Book - Why Books Are Good

1. What, according to Gass, are the things about books that cannot be reproduced on screens? What do you think?

 Firstly, one huge difference between books and letters on the screen is that books are dimensional, portable objects that you can hold in your hand. Since the screen is 2-dimensional, any sort of note taking such as making annotations, quotes or interpretations would be quite tedious in comparison to having a copy of a book in your hand where flipping through the pages takes seconds and you have the freedom to scribble done notes with ease. Books can also be borrowed, pre-owned and by being pre-owned, they also have some sort of tattered history form the previous owner like when the author described that sometimes you would fine a lot of the previous owner’s junk in between the pages.

 2. Write about a particular book you own and take a photograph of it. Write about your history with it: how you found it and the ways it’s been a part of your life. This recollection need not be as intimate and affectionate as Gass’. It could be very matter of fact.

 This book is called Drawing People: How to portray the clothed figure. I received this book as a present from my cousin, Donna, who is studying to become an art teacher. She decided to give me this book as a gift since she knows I enjoy drawing/illustrating and from experience, she also believes the book is a great reference and thought it would probably help or guide me into improving my drawing skills. Yet, I have not really touched it ( and only skimmed the pages) ever since I received it in the mail last semester since I was busy with school and have been so distracted with other things that I haven’t had the time to draw or have been in the mood to draw at all. I’ll most likely pick it up one day in the future… basically, it’s been sitting on the shelf with all my other books. Also, while flipping through the pages, in between them was a cardstock sheet of paper of a quick Adventure Time illustration, autographed and drawn by Ristaino, who is an artist who works for Adventure Time as a character designer and storyboard artist. My cousin picked up this sketch for me when she went to the 2013 San Diego Comic Con during the summer. I just left in the book because I don’t know where else to place it and I’m afraid I’d lose it if I didn’t leave it in there.