Paradigms Lost: The Life and Deaths of the Printed Word

by William Sonn

Overview

Four times in western history: in the 1400s, the early 1800s, the 1880s, and again in the mid-20th century, we learned to duplicate and disseminate the printed word more cheaply. And each time strange events followed.

For with each of these changes in the gritty production of glamorous content, expensive and secret bodies of knowledge abruptly became cheap and easy to spread. Once-rare and sometimes disorienting impressions rained down on once-sheltered folks. New and otherwise inexpert hands mixed them into whole new breeds of information, myth, logic, and viewpoints. There were fantastic scientific advances, mass migrations, bold social experiments, financial upheavals, and much bloodshed. In the harrowing decades that followed, powerful new kinds of governments, businesses, and groups came to elbow aside old ones. In all of these periods, there were great, creaking shifts in politics, wealth, religions, and even the way we learn, think, and see. And in the last decade, the costs of producing and distributing printed knowledge have fallen a fifth time, far and fast and almost to free.

Paradigms Lost traces the history of the accidents, inventions, forces, eccentrics, and geniuses who accelerated information in the past, examines what happened each time they succeeded, and provides some background for what, if the past is any guide, may be coming.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810852624
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/14/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	398
Product dimensions:	7.18(w) x 8.94(h) x 1.18(d)

About the Author

William Sonn is a writer (Outside, Chicago, and The Progressive) and senior publishing and marketing executive. Bill, his family, his dog and his firm (Business Development Communications) reside in Denver.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 1. Peter Printing Pants in Linotype Hell, 1993 Part 2 Part I. The Birth of Type: From Hand to Lever Chapter 3 2. Primordial Scratches Chapter 4 3. The Machine in the Manger Chapter 5 4. A Certain Scrambling Chapter 6 5. A Happy Man, Concerned Chapter 7 6. The Terrible Contagion Chapter 8 7. Faster Than Asparagus Part 9 Part II. The Type Age: From Lever to Machine Chapter 10 8. Cat Troubles Chapter 11 9. Trickle, Stream, Torrent, Wave... Chapter 12 10. Extreme Cheapness Chapter 13 11. The Dam's Last Brick Chapter 14 12. "The Hasty Approach of Evil" Chapter 15 13. Complacency's Triumph Chapter 16 14. The World without Kinship Part 17 Part III. The End of Type: From Machine to Math Chapter 18 15. Full Pantry, No Can Opener Chapter 19 16. War after the War Chapter 20 17. Dreams of Girl Typists Chapter 21 18. Buck Rogers Stuff Chapter 22 19. Like a Burlesque Blonde Chapter 23 20. Speedups and Slowdowns Chapter 24 21. Union's End Chapter 25 22. Aristocrats in Dotage Part 26 Part IV. Life after Type Chapter 27 23. Words Out of Dots, Rolled Out of Factories Chapter 28 24. ...And Offices And... Chapter 29 25. One Last Transaction Cost Chapter 30 26. The Descent into Free Part 31 Bibliography Part 32 Index Part 33 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

...Sonn's telling of the history of print [is]...engaging.

Color Business Report

...a valuable documentary record.

Information & Culture

Sonn is an excellent writer and, judging by the wealth of footnotes and extensive bibliography, a dogged researcher, too.

American Printer

Colorado-based historian and writer Sonn describes the inventions and forces that shaped information processes in the past, providing a background for what the future may hold. In a conversational yet information-filled narrative he recounts the evolution of the printed word over the past 160,000 years, lightly touching on "primordial scratches" and proceeding to the birth of type (what he describes as "from hand to lever"), the age of type ("from lever to machine"), and the end of type ("from machine to math"), then concluding with "life after type."

Reference and Research Book News

Must reading for anyone involved in printing, typesetting or graphic design...a fascinating look at the printed word!

Design

William Sonn is at his best...

Times Literary Supplement

...an energetically written history of print technology that shows how changes in type production have had profound effects on society.

Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie

...amazingly detailed....extremely useful as a research tool.

College & Research Libraries - vol. 67

...will please anyone who loves history.

Bookviews

Must reading for anyone involved in printing, typesetting or graphic design...a fascinating look at the printed word!

Design MD

...amazingly detailed....extremely useful as a research tool.--vol. 67, no. 6 "College & Research Libraries, November 2006 "

...will please anyone who loves history.--Bookviews

Must reading for anyone involved in printing, typesetting or graphic design...a fascinating look at the printed word!--Design, Typography, and Graphics Monthly

From the Publisher

...an energetically written history of print technology that shows how changes in type production have had profound effects on society.

Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie

...an energetically written history of print technology that shows how changes in type production have had profound effects on society.

Zentralblatt fur Geologie und Palaontologie

Sonn is an excellent writer and, judging by the wealth of footnotes and extensive bibliography, a dogged researcher, too.

December 2006 American Printer

Colorado-based historian and writer Sonn describes the inventions and forces that shaped information processes in the past, providing a background for what the future may hold. In a conversational yet information-filled narrative he recounts the evolution of the printed word over the past 160,000 years, lightly touching on "primordial scratches" and proceeding to the birth of type (what he describes as "from hand to lever"), the age of type ("from lever to machine"), and the end of type ("from machine to math"), then concluding with "life after type."

August 2006 Reference and Research Book News

Must reading for anyone involved in printing, typesetting or graphic design...a fascinating look at the printed word!

Design Typography and Graphics Monthly

...a valuable documentary record.

Libraries and The Cultural Record

...an energetically written history of print technology that shows how changes in type production have had profound effects on society.

College & Research Libraries News

William Sonn is at his best...

Times Literary Supplement (UK)

...an energetically written history of print technology that shows how changes in type production have had profound effects on society.

Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie