Monday's (14-Aug) keynote address at UX Week, Steven Berlin Johnson mentioned a possible "future" incarnation of a book. Books will be objects with lots of connected elements hanging off of them: comments, snippets, links to like material, addendums, etc. I kind of think this is what Lou Rosenfeld is doing with his new publishing approach right here. Snippets, addendums, templates, reference lists, examples, discussion...

Apparently author John Updike doesn't think this definition of a book will come to pass. "Books are about edges and the boundaries of experience, the realm of the individual..." Couldn't both are correct?