Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

There is a wealth of knowledge sealed between the mundane covers of books, some worthy of retention in the canon of the great, and others fit for no more than the fate of so many pages in the days before toilet paper. It would take a better person than me to determine which of these categories all but the brightest stars would ultimately inhabit, but thanks to the tireless efforts of a humanitarian file ranking with the noblest of questors, a growing treasure beyond price is available to any who but click to open the doors of the Project Gutenberg. Okay, enough of the elevated diction, but seriously, there is so much knowledge and wisdom to be had for nothing but the time to absorb it. This is one of the great dreams of the internet come true--knowledge free to any who wish to access it. Libraries are archaic and outdated compared to the ease with which you can discuss philosophy and the meaning of life with Plato, or chase the Hound of the Baskervilles with Sherlock Holmes, or, more recently, find out why Steven Levy thinks that Hackers are the Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Being able to see Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks, full of all sorts of wild and weird inventions never come to light shows where many of the things we take for granted came from. Helicopters? His idea. My personal favorite of the week is by the inimitable and incorrigible Mark Twain and his discourse On the Decay of the Art of Lying. All of the cable TV and soap operas and crises and questions of the world have come before and will again, and are all there for the taking. Open the door at Project Gutenberg. [Britt Godwin]