TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Mandy Brown:

In our own time, I wonder if the very slowness of books makes them more valuable in the face of all the quickness around us, if their singular nature will prove to be their saving grace. And if so, can that inspire the design of a reading experience on the web that strives for the same lack of haste? Can we envision a future where leisure has its place?

Lying in bed and reading has a different feel than reading online. When reading a book in bed (or anywhere else, really), you are engrossed in the book’s world — the story, the characters. You are not thinking about the fifty-three emails you need to read and respond to, that thing you need to finish at work, or whatever else it is. You are in the book.

This focus, restriction on your thoughts, clarifies your mind. New thoughts and insights, things you never thought of before, both related to the book and even tangential, suddenly come to the front.

That’s what is special about books.