The posted article lacks substance, but I read "Over the Top" because of your comment. It is excellent. Thank you. I found my copy on archive.org[0].
I read it alongside "The Arms of Krupp"[1], and found the combination highly synergistic. The sensation of perspective is multiplied further if read with "All Quiet on the Western Front".
"All Quiet on the Western Front" - the only book from cca 40 we were forced to read during high school classes that really consumed me - the horrors described, the progressive apathy to death all around and almost total randomness of survival... far from usual poetry. Still cannot comprehend such madness that was happening 100 years ago
This comment is a personal anecdote. People respond to text in different ways. But they respond to visual motion more predictably. That has been my observation over the course of a year while experimenting with writing an electronic book. The book began as an Android app; and when shown to an audience the general response was one of disinterest. They'd read a few lines and stop, then comment on the photos. Maybe this was because the book was bad, but to me it seemed people did not want to read a lot of text. Perhaps the content was boring? I don't know. In an attempt to promote the work, I generated an auto-scrolling screencast of the book --- which resulted in (slightly) more interest. Consequently I've shifted to converting the book from an Android app to an autoscrolling mp4. It's a work in progress, and I'm prone to unrealistic optimism, but maybe this is a step toward a format for future written works [0].
I've developed a custom toolchain while writing an electronic book[0]. The toolchain automates the conversion of markdown and media into a scrollable "app-novel". Initially I'd hoped to earn income from the book itself, but the naiveness of that idea is quickly becoming apparent.
As a pivot, I am developing a public interface for the toolchain, with the idea of permitting others to write books in the same style. Unfortunately it is not ready to be demonstrated. Nonetheless, this feels like a untapped industry to me, and I wonder what your opinions or suggestions might be.
My knowledge about this topic comes from a single source[0], but your argument also seems to apply to Venice. It found its beginnings as Rome was being sacked, when people fled the invaders and found safety on the islands. With political knowledge and sophisticated technology, they displaced (and integrated) the 'native' people and built an incredible civilization. Venice went on to become a significant power, greatly aided by geographic advantage.
Also, it's interesting to consider the decline of Venice. Although that's better described by cliodynamics than geography.
The majority of this thread's comments relate personal experiences, so I might as well contribute mine as well. Nearly a decade ago I started work on a project. For eight years progress consisted of taking notes and daydreaming. I was going to write a book that would make me famous. Over the years the dream-ideas progressed from a paper book, to an iPod book, to a HTML5 book. The daydreams always kept up with the available technology. Finally, two years ago, I suddenly started working on the thing. It is a travelogue, written for Android. The difficulties of implementation were unexpected and surprising. And now that it's approaching completeness a new set of unexpected problems arise. I'd assumed that simply writing a book would be enough to sell it; but apparently a lot of marketing is required. Daydreaming has benefits, but it costs time.
Interesting to learn that programming is being taught to writers. Perhaps it's a poor analogy, but the term Singer/Songwriter comes to mind when I imagine such a hybrid. Either one of the two component skills could earn a living; but the two together have greater potential for producing works of significance. Also, it reminds me of Scott Adams career advice[0], where he suggests being "good" at more than one thing.
Paper is nice, but electronics are nicer. I've been working on a book which began on paper, but has evolved into a digital format. It is not 'digital literature' or particularly interactive; but it cannot be replicated with paper. If anyone is interested, it's available in the Google Play Store alpha channel:
I read it alongside "The Arms of Krupp"[1], and found the combination highly synergistic. The sensation of perspective is multiplied further if read with "All Quiet on the Western Front".
[0] https://archive.org/details/overtopbyamerica00empe
[1] https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24200511M/The_arms_of_Krupp_...