Windows and Mirrors Chapters 4-6 Response

I think the idea of Magic Book is really fascinating, but I also think it poses some problems. In placing the reader into a virtual reality, it is taking away the reader’s ability to imagine the world that the author has written, because instead they are being shown it or placed inside of it. To me one of the best aspects of books is that everything is up to reader interpretation. Of course the author writes in descriptions, but even the most detailed scenes are pictured differently by each individual. This is the reason why many people get upset by movie adaptations of books -- their favorite scenes or characters aren’t exactly how they pictured them in their minds. I feel like Magic Book takes away this creative interpretation that readers get by forcing an existing image onto the words. Of course the virtual reality adds a whole new aspect of the story by physically placing you into, but I think it also takes the individuality away from it. 

I think I would rather convergence be more limited to just the internet though, rather than other types of media like books. The internet is already so diverse, including almost every media you can imagine on it, that the convergence is expected. When the convergence happens with a book though, I think it takes away from what the original print books are for. They almost lose their meaning when changed to much. On the other hand, when more media are added to the internet, it adds to it and makes it even more diverse. Since we’re used to the diversity of the internet, more diversity is encouraged, whereas I believe a book is one-dimensional, and should stay the way it is.