“Was McLuhan Right? Gutenberg’s Galaxy and the Future of the Book”

Sunday, December 6, 2009, 4:00 pm at The Book House in Dinkytown

If you are in the Twin Cities area, put Sunday, December 6, 4:00 pm on your calendar. I would like to invite you to an event that should be lively and entertaining. I am flattered to be on a panel of folks far more distinguished than myself. I anticipate a provocative discussion. The forum is designed to maximize audience participation.

The Book House in Dinkytown is sponsoring a public conversation on the future of the book entitled “Was McLuhan Right? Gutenberg’s Galaxy and the Future of the Book.” How do new technologies, like Kindle and e-Books, change the experience and culture of reading?  Will the physical book become obsolete?  What ramifications will this have for the publishing industry, libraries, bookstores and authors?

Just to add to the sponsor’s blurb, this discussion is not just about books versus alternative forms of reading. The larger question is whether we are at the end of a 500-year epoch that Gutenberg’s printing press and mass literacy helped shape and define. This is the essence of McLuhan’s assertion—are we moving from a print to an oral galaxy? It should be an interesting conversation.

Featured Speakers:

* Monte Bute, Associate Professor, Sociology, Metropolitan State University
* Don Lepper, founder of Book Mobile and Stanton Publication Services
* Eric Lorberer, Editor, Rain Taxi
* David Noble, Emeritus Professor, American Studies, University of Minnesota