The "chipped" book makes everyday life smarter

Some books, I really enjoy the old-fashioned way, printed on paper. Reference books for example. But also some novels that somehow stand out from the crowd.

For me this currently includes the novel "Babel" by Kenah Cusanit (Hanser Verlag, München 2019, ISBN 978-3-446261-65-5; www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/babel/978-3-446-26165-5).

The author and her debut novel were on the shortlist for the Leipzig Book Fair Book Prize. And expert in Ancient Oriental Philology, she wrote a complex, very unusual novel, which not only deals with the work of the archaeologist Robert Koldewey in Babylon, but also takes a look at the difficult role archaeology played in colonial power structures, with effects that reach all the way to modern day. Looted art and the continued discussion about where it might be hidden in European museums are just a few aspects that should be mentioned.

These few words already suggest why I strongly recommend this novel.

I also recently "chipped" this book. What does it mean?

NFC in books

Cusanit's novel has already been reviewed several times. There is also a lot of exciting literature by and about Robert Koldewey. For an overview of the work, conferences and publications of the Koldewey Society, can be found at www.koldewey-gesellschaft.de. I now have all this information in digital form. No more loose notes or handwritten notes in the book, not even as a collection of material detached from the book, but I have "chipped" my book with an onetouch label. (onetouchlabels are nfc-chips, which are very easy to connect to digital content thanks to tuomi's software). On the title page, I glued an onetouchlabel in the lower right corner where I deposited the collected information. So they are now available to me (or anyone to whom I lend my book) anytime and anywhere. All I have to do is hold my smartphone against the chip and I can see what I have saved for the book. Should further information be added, I can adapt and expand it at any time. 

The possibilities here are many and varied.

Literature plays with the reader's imagination and stimulates a whole kalaidascope in the mind. I have often found that after reading a book, I travelled to the place described and was then surprised. Either I imagined something exactly as it then looked in reality or I was downright disappointed because the reality did not meet my expectations. I wouldn't want to have these unique experiences taken away by digital extensions of novels, after all, that's a big part of the pleasure. But capturing my own experiences and tying them to the book, that's quite appealing. Special places that you have discovered on your journey, that expand on your own imagination, can be linked to the book in pictures and text.

But you can also create links to books or other things which are connected to the book. I will certainly add the book "Queen of the Desert" by Janet Wallach about the life of Gertrude Bell here. This remarkable woman plays an important, albeit indirect, role in "Babel". Further details will certainly come to my mind. And the "chipping" will not be limited to this book. Exhibition catalogues, travel guides, but also reference books will certainly be digitally extended.

Warmly recommended for anyone to copy!

You can find out more about tuomis onetouchlabel here: www.onetouchlabel.com