Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Too Soon For Nostalgia
For the MISFITS Book Club we read Spider Robinson's Callahan Touch. It definitely had it's moments, but one of the stranger parts about the book for me was that it, like Emma Bull's War for the Oaks (also a book club pick), were dated enough to be noticable, but not dated so much to be nostalgic.
It was interesting to see this in something like Callahan's Touch -- it was early enough that things like the Internet were getting into the books, but it was all before the World Wide Web, and when things like usenet ruled the world. I imagine that in fifteen years references to the particular way we use Google today, or references to podcasts, will seem just as much a part of the time, something that you can silicon date.
That is today's question -- when does something switch from dated to being worthy of nostalgia?
It was interesting to see this in something like Callahan's Touch -- it was early enough that things like the Internet were getting into the books, but it was all before the World Wide Web, and when things like usenet ruled the world. I imagine that in fifteen years references to the particular way we use Google today, or references to podcasts, will seem just as much a part of the time, something that you can silicon date.
That is today's question -- when does something switch from dated to being worthy of nostalgia?
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