Re: [-empyre-] the book

[noah wardrip-fruin <noah@queeg.com>]

At 6:29 PM -0500 12/1/04, Alan Sondheim wrote:
> Just want to say that the contents of the book look excellent! I've
> already read some of the articles in other places of course. What's
> interesting to me is the breadth of the book - which is much broader, I
> think than the discussion here has indicated. I'm particularly glad to see
> anything from the Wingrad/Flores book reproduced - it's always been one of
> my favorite -

Thanks Alan. I think it's true that Nick and I haven't done enough 
here on the list to be clear about the breadth of work we tried to 
include in the project.

Also, I realize that in my last message I should have named the 
project's advisors. They really were invaluable. Some contributed 
most during the NYU Press stage, and others became involved more 
during the MIT Press stage. Their names are:  Espen Aarseth, Mark 
Bernstein, Chris Bregler, Edward Fox, Cynthia Goodman, Carolyn Guyer, 
Terry Harpold, N. Katherine Hayles, Carol Hutchins, Henry Jenkins, 
Carl Machover, Stuart Moulthrop, Christiane Paul, Ken Perlin, Edward 
A. Shanken, Herman Tavani, Gregory Ulmer, and Adrianne Wortzel.

> I'm curious what books have influenced people here?

Well, as I wrote before, Nelson's _Computer Lib / Dream Machines_ was 
the first book on new media that had a big impact on me. Also, like 
Nick, I've found the Oulipo's work an important influence - Georges 
Perec's _Life A User's Manual_ in particular, and on the more 
critical end Warren Motte's _Oulipo: A Primer of Potential 
Literature_. Of course, many of the things in the NMR are there in 
part because of how powerfully they struck me when I first 
encountered them.

Noah