Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age - Softcover

What's up, doc? Information scientist David M Levy wants us to look at the documents that fill our lives, and his book Scrolling Forward is a thoughtful reflection on their near-omnipresence. Levy has the perfect resumé for this job--after getting his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1981, he moved to England to pursue the study of calligraphy and bookbinding. His love of books shows in his writing, which is rich with references and anecdotes from Walt Whitman to Woody Allen.

Drawing on examples as disparate as grocery store receipts, greeting cards, identity papers and (of course) e-mail, Levy finds the common threads binding them together and explores how and why we use them in daily life. He looks at digitisation closely, considering how speed, ease of editing, and potentially perfect copying changes our traditional considerations of documentation. Though he insists that he's looking at the present, not speculating about the future, it's hard to see how to avoid looking ahead after reading Scrolling Forward. --Rob Lightner

"Scrolling Forward . . . it's a book that changed the way I relate to the world around me. . . This book changed the way I think—and, more importantly, the way I feel—about written language, which is to say it changed the way I think and feel about time and text, mortality and materiality, meaning and being." —Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being

"A masterpiece. Insightful, penetrating, and beautifully written. [Levy] takes us on a personal journey that reveals the essence of documents, their pragmatic, their communal, and their spiritual roles, roles that are often intertwined but go unnoticed. . . . This book will speak to a wide audience, helping us all better understand how we create meaning for ourselves and others." —John Selly Brown, former Director of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, coauthor of The Social Life of Information

"A fascinating and original personal mediation and cultural exploration . . . This book will change forever the way you regard the written word." —Deborah Tannen, author of I Only Say This Because I Love You

"A nuanced, sympathetic, and endlessly fascinating portrait of our most ubiquitous servant and companion: the document . . . Levy's discussion goes far beyond the usual hype and techno-mystique to focus on the deepest questions of human communication and meaning. That he manages to bring all this off with warmth and good humor is not the least of the gifts this book offers." —Norman Fischer, author of Success and former Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center
"Absorbing . . . [Levy] is both adept in new technologies of writing and steeped in traditional ones . . . Refreshing to anyone weary f the platitudes of high-tech hyperbole and indignant old guard nostalgia." —Geoffrey Nunberg, commentator on Fresh Air and editor of the American Heritage Dictionary and The Future of the Book

"Fascinating . . . Levy provides a rich context—personal, historical, philosophical, spiritual—for understanding these humble artifacts of human thought and human sharing." —David Weinberger, NPR commentator and coauthor of The Cluetrain Manifesto

"Questions about how books and libraries will fare in the digital age . . . are elevated to exquisite and philosophical explanations of how we humans find meaning in life." —Deanna Marcum, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources

"Levy's book may not give documents the same cachet that Simon Winchester's The Map That Changed the World gave to maps, but readers will never look at a deli receipt in the same way after finishing this gripping discussion of written forms. . . . His assessment of how documents work and what they say about our culture and values is a worthy one." —Publishers Weekly

"Levy offers a vigorous, philosophical, and intellectually stimulating interpretative overview of [documents'] evolution and impact on culture. . . . As he considers the vagaries of digital technologies versus our craving for order, he expresses unexpectedly poetic insights into our carried-in-the-genes sense that there is a 'sacred quality' to reading, even in the age of multitasking." —Booklist