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jerryragland
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
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Please read the below argument and score. Also, read my other arguments/issues in this forum as well.
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The following appeared as part of an article in the book section of a newspaper:
"Currently more and more books are becoming available in electronic form-either free-of-charge on the Internet or for a very low price-per-book on compact disc.* Thus literary classics are likely to be read more widely than ever before. People who couldn't have purchased these works at bookstore prices will now be able to read them for little or no money; similarly, people who find it inconvenient to visit libraries and wait for books to be returned by other patrons will now have access to whatever classic they choose from their home or work computers. This increase in access to literary classics will radically affect the public taste in reading, creating a far more sophisticated and learned reading audience than has ever existed before."
*A compact disc is a small portable disc capable of storing relatively large amounts of data that can be read by a computer.
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
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Today's electronic world has made people's life a lot easier and sophisticated. In this internet world, everything is brought to us in one single device. Waiting for newspaper to arrive and gaurding it from one's pet to know the world's happening is long gone. Almost any publication can be read online or through any other electronic devices which are specifically designed for reading for eg. Amazon's Kindle. However, the excerpt from the article given to argue holds the same idea and enthusiasm in electronic reading media. However, the author of the article makes some baseless assumptions and makes a conclusion which lacks much reasoning and evidence.
The author's observation is correct about the price drop of electronic books also called eBooks which are electronic versions of paperback and hardcover books. The article focus on the easy accessbility of literary classics since it's now available electronically. But the primary problem with the article is the author jumps to the conclusion right away that literary classics will be read more because of a possible price drop. Author's assumption here is the price of such literary classis is the one and only reason that is holding people back from reading them. This assumption is not valid as there could be many other reasons behind one not reading a book. Price of a book is just only a parameter in choosing a book. The other parameters to be considered are one's interest, taste, understanding of such classic as they may have written in archaic language.
The second argument that the author makes is about the accessibility and availiability of those literary classics. Author claims that when the literary classics are made more available and accessible the interest in them would grow more in people. This again, is an assumption with out much reasoning. Let's consider an internet music site with huge collection which allows people to listen to music for a small fee. A person who picks a music to listen depends on that person's interested. If a person wants to listen to some song from the 60's, ofcourse, now the person has access to it but if the listener does not like the kind of music he/she may not try it again or may give up after few tries. This applies same to the literary classics, making them more available and easliy accessible make people try and some will like it and some won't. Hence, with the evidence given in the article is not substantial to conclude that the electronic media release would increase more sophisticated and learned reading audience.
Ofcourse, the increase in access and the price are important factors in reading a book but they are not just the only factors. In sum, the conclusion that author makes is based on baseless assumptions and derived with out much reasoning and lacks evidence which makes it invalid.
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The following appeared as part of an article in the book section of a newspaper:
"Currently more and more books are becoming available in electronic form-either free-of-charge on the Internet or for a very low price-per-book on compact disc.* Thus literary classics are likely to be read more widely than ever before. People who couldn't have purchased these works at bookstore prices will now be able to read them for little or no money; similarly, people who find it inconvenient to visit libraries and wait for books to be returned by other patrons will now have access to whatever classic they choose from their home or work computers. This increase in access to literary classics will radically affect the public taste in reading, creating a far more sophisticated and learned reading audience than has ever existed before."
*A compact disc is a small portable disc capable of storing relatively large amounts of data that can be read by a computer.
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
#####
Today's electronic world has made people's life a lot easier and sophisticated. In this internet world, everything is brought to us in one single device. Waiting for newspaper to arrive and gaurding it from one's pet to know the world's happening is long gone. Almost any publication can be read online or through any other electronic devices which are specifically designed for reading for eg. Amazon's Kindle. However, the excerpt from the article given to argue holds the same idea and enthusiasm in electronic reading media. However, the author of the article makes some baseless assumptions and makes a conclusion which lacks much reasoning and evidence.
The author's observation is correct about the price drop of electronic books also called eBooks which are electronic versions of paperback and hardcover books. The article focus on the easy accessbility of literary classics since it's now available electronically. But the primary problem with the article is the author jumps to the conclusion right away that literary classics will be read more because of a possible price drop. Author's assumption here is the price of such literary classis is the one and only reason that is holding people back from reading them. This assumption is not valid as there could be many other reasons behind one not reading a book. Price of a book is just only a parameter in choosing a book. The other parameters to be considered are one's interest, taste, understanding of such classic as they may have written in archaic language.
The second argument that the author makes is about the accessibility and availiability of those literary classics. Author claims that when the literary classics are made more available and accessible the interest in them would grow more in people. This again, is an assumption with out much reasoning. Let's consider an internet music site with huge collection which allows people to listen to music for a small fee. A person who picks a music to listen depends on that person's interested. If a person wants to listen to some song from the 60's, ofcourse, now the person has access to it but if the listener does not like the kind of music he/she may not try it again or may give up after few tries. This applies same to the literary classics, making them more available and easliy accessible make people try and some will like it and some won't. Hence, with the evidence given in the article is not substantial to conclude that the electronic media release would increase more sophisticated and learned reading audience.
Ofcourse, the increase in access and the price are important factors in reading a book but they are not just the only factors. In sum, the conclusion that author makes is based on baseless assumptions and derived with out much reasoning and lacks evidence which makes it invalid.
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