Re: The Alphabet vs the Goddess

["Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

     What brought it home to me was his assertion that the books that
     have shaped our society -- works of history, philosophy, literature,
     and science -- are thick tomes, devoid of pictures.

My first impulse upon reading this was to shout "Male Bovine Excrement!!"

Throughout the formative years of Christianity (filled with works of
philosophy and literature which have had an undeniable effect upon the
shaping of our society) books often contained breathtakingly beautiful
illustrations ("illuminations").

The Age of Discovery was propelled by pictures more than anything else; how
else does one describe maps?

The works of naturalists like Audubon, geneticists like Mendel, and others
contained pictures and diagrams without end.

When the printing press appeared upon the scene (a relatively recent
development in the world of writing) illustrations took a temporary hit,
but even then, illumined manuscripts existed; they just couldn't be printed
as readily.

It seems to me that the history of writing since Gutenberg is largely an
effort to return to the past's ability to produce illustrations as easily
as Gutenberg's press enabled us to produce text.

     I've seen a huge increase in the amount and role of visual content
     since I've been reading and writing technical documents. Is this
     just because our tools are better, or is our audience changing as
     well?  ...RM


A little of both, IMSHO. Audiences have always wanted illustrations; they
know it's quite possible with the tools we have today, so, more and more,
they're unwilling to settle for the lower standards they've accepted since
Gutenberg.


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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