I know about that, and a lot more besides. And believe me, the best sources of information aren’t to be found in Malta, because those in the know tend to be rabid partisans so you’ll only get their side of the story. Which is why I find the whole idea of a “museum of political development” highly ludicrous. It would be a sanitised version of the truth to avoid upsetting anyone, like our social studies textbooks of yore.

You’re unwittingly making my point. The political history of Malta is best studied by reading books, not visiting a museum and looking at what, footage of the 7th June riots? Political manifestos? A waxwork of Mintoff shagging Il-Fusellu’s mum?

[Daphne – Oh, you knew about that. Had it been anyone else, I would have deleted that reference, but since you’re talking about those two men, that’s all right. Lucky for us that one’s dead and the other doesn’t believe in computers. Round my neck of the woods it was taken for granted that this was the reason he got to throw his weight around and have such a strong hold over ministers and total immunity from prosecution – not that Mintoff was still shagging his mother at that stage, of course, but that he might well have been the result.]

Baxxter do you read books, various books have been written about the political development of this 360 sqKm micro state.

A political museum might be the catalyst which will see books written by Henry Frendo, J.J Cremona and J.M Pirotta being read by the public and not just history students.

One of my primary concerns when looking for a house was, where am I going to put my books?

So clearly part of the joy of reading and owning books is the joy of possession. But people vary. My brother and I keep our books once we’re done, my mother and my partner pass them on as soon as they turn the last page. I don’t think its a female thing, but we are all avid, eclectic, and constant readers, so trying to relate one’s attitude to physical possession of books to whether or not they would want an ebook is a non-starter. Its a question of personal taste.

But not withstanding the joy of possession, and clearly not being a semi-literate idiot, rather a lifelong professional bookworm, I’d LOVE a good quality ebook in which I can keep all my books, especially since I’m normally reading two or three at a time, and could easily jump from one to the other.

Don’t just assume that an e-book is or will remain a clunky square monochrome thing – there are lots of technologies which are being worked on or which are viable today (but expensive for now) which will allow us to have all sorts of ebooks which can be bright/flexible/rollable/waterproof/foldable/multisized. And since they’re digital – you automatically have an audiobook. We also have some mobile phones coming out with short range projectors – you could transfer the e-book to your phone (many already do) and project it onto the seat in front of you. The possibilities are endless. THis is a technology the versatility of which cannot be sumarily diismissed.

Here’s an anology. I started ripping my cd’s to my pc’s HDD in 1998. My friends all laughed at me and thought I was crazy. No-one went as far as calling it e-shite, but they couldn’t see the value. The fact that I could then access all my music with miminal effort and myriad combinations was not considered relevant. Neither was the fact that CD’s have a 20 yr lifespan. Nor could they believe that we would be able to carry all our music with us, or that we would want to, but 10 years later……..

The following article is very interesting. I especially like the comment about the ‘random’ function. I wonder how long it will be before we read a similar article about books. I prefer to take the long view.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8117619.stm

Totally with you on this one. Check out the fantastic Amsterdam library; such a joy to visit over and over again:

http://www.oba.nl/index.cfm/t/OBA_at_the_Oosterdok__OD_/objectid/AF40DBF2-9790-D0B8-F2ADBEF3BDF85EF3/vid/8A355FDE-B47B-8B40-69D28AE6D90F0E61/containerid/666415AA-C09F-296A-61DB669427684CB1/displaymethod/display_obaplayer

I never claimed to be a bibliophile.

Anyway, we’ll settle this in about 20 years time. Hopefully you’ll still be blogging then, and I’ll refer you to this post.

http://www.longbets.org/179 – Hey, at least I’m not as short-sighted as this “predictor”.

I guess I’m in the minority when I say that I don’t read cookery books and encyclopedias from cover to cover.

[Daphne – When people’s shelves (or electronic devices) are packed with nothing but reference books, I don’t regard them as bibliophiles or people who love reading, but as precisely the sort of people who would take to reading ‘books’ in electronic format.]

That’s one way of ensuring the space remains empty for several decades. It’s taken close on 60 years to sort out the opera house site. The central narrative of Malta’s political history may be sorted out much sooner, but I’m not holding my breath.

Maybe we should have as many museums as there are opinions on what is politically and historically significant. Or simply set up a people’s parliament on the ground floor of the real one, where the know-alls can vent their spleen and provide entertainment for passersby.