Fun with Literature, Interactive Edition

I came across two intriguing book-related features last week, both of which demonstrated once again how an interactive Internet page can improve the experience of learning more about almost anything. 

The Guardian (U.K.) posted an interactive feature called The Books Power 100. The page shows a grid of thumbnail-sized black and white photos of 100 people considered by the Guardian’s team to be “exercising the greatest influence over the UK's reading habits right now”. 

When you roll over a photo, a label pops up giving the person’s role – author, publisher, or agent – and all the others in that same role suddenly change to color photos.  When you click on a photo, you see the person’s name and more information about him or her.  To my chagrin, I only recognized two: Stephen Fry, the comedian, and Malcolm Gladwell, because his hair is so, um, memorable.  I thought one might be Sigmund Freud but it turned out to be Terry Pratchett; an error he might find amusing.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, was named the most powerful person in the book industry, with J.K Rowling following in second place.

Taking influence and power as touchstones, the Guardian wrote, they sought to balance tmarket shares and bestseller lists with more nebulous factors such as cultural influence and legacy. The list was compiled after many hours of “robustly unscientific debate” on the Guardian and Observer book desks.

"Amazon has given readers a limitless choice of books in a way that no bookseller or publisher has ever done before," said Lisa Allardice, editor of Guardian Review. "It has dealt the high-street bookshop a near-fatal battering, completely changing not only the way we buy books, but also the way we read them, as the huge success of the Kindle shows."

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For a more whimsical experience, check out the graphics compiled by Jared Keller, an associate editor for The Atlantic and The Atlantic Wire.  You'll enjoy going through the series of slides demonstrating references to literature in The Simpsons.

People love The Simpsons for many reasons, including its references to culture, both high and low.  As Keller describes his project, “the focal point for the show's cultural awareness is, of course, Lisa, precocious bookworm and perennial conscience of the family".

Keller’s appreciation for Lisa's bookishness led him and Michelle Legro of Lapham's Quarterly to create the Lisa Simpson Book Club, devoted to the best literary references in the show's history. The Atlantic website offers a selection of some of the show's best shoutouts to the world of literature, including:

• George Plimpton telling Lisa: “Competitive spelling has fallen on hard times.”
• Lisa brushing up her on sports knowledge with Michael Lewis’s Moneyball.
• Christopher Walken reading Goodnight Moon to some terrified children.

It’s frivolous fun, but also a reminder of the interplay between pop culture television and our love of reading. And we’re always happy for an excuse to indulge ourselves in Simpsons humor!