I recently finished reading Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. I was both amazed & appalled at the endnotes & "bibliography"--a large portion of both were internet citations! This is scholarship? Given the ephemeral nature of the internet, I'm very concerned for the future of historical research. How is one to "check sources" when they are merely a bunch of electrons that can cease to exist in an instant? Books, while perhaps difficult to find, are far & away to be preferred.

I hold multiple degrees in History, & have taught the subject at the college level, & though I "do computers" for a vocation, history is still a serious avocation & hobby. I was already somewhat dismayed over the loss of writing (I guess I mean penmanship) and written communication skills brought on by the widespread use of the telephone. Instead of writing someone a note, now we just pick up the phone to "reach out & touch someone" (the quote is from an ATT Long Distance ad some years back, for those unfamiliar with it).

While I also greatly enjoy the internet & various fora thereon (especially this one), and have learned much, I can't read an online book under a tree without an extension cord or a bunch of batteries--& when they're gone, then what?

I'll step off the soapbox now.

David

"When I get a little money, I buy books; if there's any left over, I buy food." -- Cicero