[mindcrime]

> Why shouldn't we have great recall of the details of books we read?

I'm not saying we shouldn't, just pointing out that it's not practical to expect that after one causal read through of a book. At least books as they are today. Which leads to...

As I see it, the author's question is: can we create a new medium which affords such active engagement with the works we read more effectively?

That's fair. That, to me, turns the question into "how can we make books that work better?" instead of "why don't books work?" And I think that's a valid and useful question.

To the author's point that books aren't necessarily built around a theory of cognition / learning, and could be improved by incorporating that, I'd say "sure". I'm not at all opposed to the idea of making books better. I was really responding more to the earlier part of the essay, which seemed focused on hammering on the "books don't work" idea.