Retyping Books

[paperWasp]

OK. Why in 2022 when 99% books have been digitised or digitally issued? Aren't OCRs much better in that?

You don't buy a sport car just for commuting or shopping. You want enjoy the ride.
Retyping books is the same kind of experience. No stress with formulating the content, just enjoying the story and 'stroking our sport cars'. Very calming, try that.

For me it's like 20 or 30 minutes (~2 or 3 pages) and not every day. My current book (actually the second book I retype) is a quite unknown work from a guy who in 1986 with a friend crossed the iron curtain from former Czechoslovakia to Austria using special 'carts' hanged on high voltage power lines. Not a great literary work but an interesting story.

[digital_matthew]

I hear it's also a great way to sharpen one's typing skills. I may need to try it myself soon.

[Muirium]

I’ve transcribed a few things, from my own handwriting and audio back before speech to text was mostly solved. Must admit I found it the opposite of relaxing, or indeed any kind of way to focus on the material. My headspace is filled with punctuation quibbles and fixing streaming typos. Quite stressful, actually, even on the nicest boards.

But mileage evidently differs! If it works for you, saddle up: there’s a world of books for each and every one of us to discover.

I just happen to prefer mine already spoken; whether by the computer (which I do a lot and have for decades) or an audiobook or pod.

[fohat]

My mother had a high school friend who became a writer. After he graduated from school, he went to a respected "writers' colony" where the headmistress made them spend a year copying major contemporary novels to "get the feel" of what it is like to write a great book. This was in the early 1950s and they were using manual typewriters !

That book is The Colony and I recommend it. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/ ... The_Colony

[kbdfr]

[…] 99% books have been digitised or digitally issued […]

That is a bold assumption.
I would rather assume that ±99% of all books ever published never made it to a digital version.

[Bjerrk]

I just happen to prefer mine already spoken; whether by the computer (which I do a lot and have for decades)

Insanity, pure insanity!

[wobbled]

[…] 99% books have been digitised or digitally issued […]

That is a bold assumption.
I would rather assume that ±99% of all books ever published never made it to a digital version.

Agreed. A quick browse in a school or university from the 1600s or prior and you’ll find books that the internet has limited information on, and Amazon Kindles will get confused at.

[kbdfr]

Well, if most of the books one deals with are e-books or digital versions of books, they will be quick to infer that these are 99% of all books

On the other hand, if you take as example the catalogue of the French publisher Flammarion, you will see that they list a total of 13431 books, of which 8302 exist in a digital version. That’s more than half of them, of course, but far from 99%, and as the catalogue only lists available books, it omits practically all books published between 1875 (year of foundation) and, say, 1950, which have more or less vanished in the haze.

[TNT]

I’ve transcribed a few things, from my own handwriting and audio back before speech to text was mostly solved. Must admit I found it the opposite of relaxing, or indeed any kind of way to focus on the material. My headspace is filled with punctuation quibbles and fixing streaming typos. Quite stressful, actually, even on the nicest boards.

But mileage evidently differs! If it works for you, saddle up: there’s a world of books for each and every one of us to discover.

I just happen to prefer mine already spoken; whether by the computer (which I do a lot and have for decades) or an audiobook or pod.

Couldn't have said it better. Same for me. Maybe its an issue with my typing skill, but I also can't really focus on the content, least of all enjoy it. The idea sounds kinda intriguing tho ...

[Muirium]

I just happen to prefer mine already spoken; whether by the computer (which I do a lot and have for decades)

Insanity, pure insanity!

To be fair, I only use robo voice for non-fiction, typically news and tedious official stuff, primarily because the robot’s eyes can’t glare over while mine absolutely can. I’ve more patience in listening than I have in reading. But yes, you don’t put your favourite novels through a speech synth. That’s where audiobooks come in, especially if I’m travelling and need my eyes about me.

[paperWasp]

[…] 99% books have been digitised or digitally issued […]

That is a bold assumption.
I would rather assume that ±99% of all books ever published never made it to a digital version.

Didn't Google bulk digitise in the first decade of the century? I've seen those speed scanners working on partly open books (because of paperback bending) in action. Maybe 99% is too much but definitely more than the 1%.

I’ve transcribed a few things, from my own handwriting and audio back before speech to text was mostly solved. Must admit I found it the opposite of relaxing, or indeed any kind of way to focus on the material. My headspace is filled with punctuation quibbles and fixing streaming typos. Quite stressful, actually, even on the nicest boards.

But mileage evidently differs! If it works for you, saddle up: there’s a world of books for each and every one of us to discover.

I just happen to prefer mine already spoken; whether by the computer (which I do a lot and have for decades) or an audiobook or pod.

Couldn't have said it better. Same for me. Maybe its an issue with my typing skill, but I also can't really focus on the content, least of all enjoy it. The idea sounds kinda intriguing tho ...

The thing is: I do it just for for me. No stress. If I raise my eyes from the book and find a typo, I correct it but no thorough proofreading and comparison with the original. Swapped, missed and possibly also inserted words (by mistake - if I feel it there) could be occasionally there - so what...

[Muirium]

I have read several books from the 19th century, or before (physical copies in the National library of Scotland) which are supposedly on Google but so badly mangled it’s like you’re reading it through Siri. Maybe someone in Pakistan read it out for her? When I want to quote them, I honestly don’t know whether to even start from copy paste from Google books or start all over again from scratch, with all the moral secretarial pain that entails, as described earlier.

[paperWasp]

My thanks to Nuum for kindly flagging my spam.
... One part of this may in fact be true.

Sweet!

[andrewjoy]

I have been thinking of doing this. There are 2 books on typesetting in troff (Document Formatting & Typesetting on the UNIX System Vol 1 ISBN 0-9615336-2-5 and Vol 2 ISBN 0-9615336-3-3) that have never been digitised and i have been thinking of doing this for them i know most people will use LaTeX or markdown but but some people do love minimalism and the documentation out there for even the "modern" groff is terrible.

[paperWasp]

I have been thinking of doing this. There are 2 books on typesetting in troff (Document Formatting & Typesetting on the UNIX System Vol 1 ISBN 0-9615336-2-5 and Vol 2 ISBN 0-9615336-3-3) that have never been digitised and i have been thinking of doing this for them i know most people will use LaTeX or markdown but but some people do love minimalism and the documentation out there for even the "modern" groff is terrible.

Being a Linux guy (I started exploring it in 1999 and Debian/Ubuntu based distros have been my primary/only home OS since 2008), I've never used troff. Maybe a good e-book might motivate me to start learning it.

But that definitely won't be retyping I'd find stress-free, let alone relaxing.

[Muirium]

The command line is the ultimate, relaxing error free environment!

[paperWasp]

Unless you dd ... of=/dev/wrong_disk...

[Muirium]

What you say again? rm -rf / Yeh, I done that but it’s gotten kinda jerky.

[paperWasp]

Data Destroyer is even more powerful.

Btw. my retyped book #3 is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I've already read it and almost died of injuries while 'laughing my ass out'. Such a pity it was rejected by the publisher in time the author completed it (which cost him his life in the end) and the genius of the work was discovered several years later.

Hmm, maybe I should've set up a key press counter to know how many percent of the advertised 50 mil. MX switch actuations have already been reached. Space key and A are probably the best candidates.

[AndyJ]

Didn't Google bulk digitise in the first decade of the century? I've seen those speed scanners working on partly open books (because of paperback bending) in action. Maybe 99% is too much but definitely more than the 1%.

In my particular field of engineering, practically nothing is scanned. The basic texts that form the underpinnings of all later texts are rare and usually ridiculously expensive. For most people, only available through Inter-Library Loan. Over a career I built a nice little library of primary texts; the ones all the modern textbooks claim to refer to.

Instructing newbie engineers, some of them were frustrated almost to tears that they couldn't find that information with just a few searches and clicks. "No, you have to go to the library, fill out the card, and wait. Only then will you come within touching distance of enlightenment."

[AndyJ]

Hmm, maybe I should've set up a key press counter to know how many percent of the advertised 50 mil. MX switch actuations have already been reached. Space key and A are probably the best candidates.

In the 1990s when I was doing a lot of email, my outgoing mail file - not the headers, just the text - ran around 500Kb a month. That's the equivalent of a full-length novel. That doesn't count being active online (BBSs, back then), writing a couple of books, and programming.

All on an IBM Model F. The same one I just went back to a few weeks ago, in fact. I put 20 years on that board before retiring it for a "modern" keyboard in 2008. I unretired it with a thorough scrub and an adapter cable, and it's back on the job.

[paperWasp]

All on an IBM Model F. The same one I just went back to a few weeks ago, in fact. I put 20 years on that board before retiring it for a "modern" keyboard in 2008. I unretired it with a thorough scrub and an adapter cable, and it's back on the job.

Nice. Getting a used, perfectly cleaned Model F from eBay is good. But having it as a 'lifelong partner' since the first keystroke is really cool.