6 ms·

Emoji Dick;

13 points by xvirk 12y ago

jasode 12y ago
The preview link at the Lulu page[1] does not show any examples of the translation. The video on the kickstarter page[2] shows a few very blurry examples. (EDIT ADD: The page section below the video does show 4 more examples but it's not in the format that will appear in the actual book.) The New Yorker article[3] shows a translation of the first sentence. Since there are no substantial excerpts, there's not much substance to discuss on HN. I'm tempted to flag the post as spam. [1]http://www.lulu.com/shop/fred-benenson/emoji-dick-hard-cover/hardcover/product-12555990.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/fred-benenson/emoji-dick-hard-cover... [2]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fred/emoji-dick https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fred/emoji-dick [3]http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-revolution-will-be-crowdsourced-and-cute http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-revolution-wi...
DEinspanjer 12y ago
I noticed this title with passing interest a few days back, but upon discovering that the only preview I could find goes no further than the TOC and hence shows no actual sample of the usage of emoji to tell the story, I really couldn't see the value in spending $40 on it. At this point, I am still not entirely clear whether the editor intended this as an actual work of art he wants to sell or just a farce. If it was a farce, I'd at least recommend selling fractions of the book for $1 each. I imagine he'd at least get a chunk of curious visitors to take a peek.
tempodox 12y ago
That “language” seems extremely whimsical to me. But then, it's probably just sign-of-the-times — as a parody, it would hit the spot. In two or three generations, we won't be able to read letters any more anyway, so we might as well switch to pictograms right now. They're also more economic with mobile touch-screen interfaces. I'm sure there's an app for that. Nevertheless, I miss a peek inside the book. Can't imagine what it looks like. Will it actually be readable (if you want to call it that) or is it just an alternative resting place for the dust on the shelf?
ghubbard 12y ago
The CC-BY-SA pdf can be found here: http://www.czyborra.com/unicode/emojidick.pdf http://www.czyborra.com/unicode/emojidick.pdf

13 points by xvirk 12y ago

The preview link at the Lulu page[1] does not show any examples of the translation. The video on the kickstarter page[2] shows a few very blurry examples. (EDIT ADD: The page section below the video does show 4 more examples but it's not in the format that will appear in the actual book.) The New Yorker article[3] shows a translation of the first sentence. Since there are no substantial excerpts, there's not much substance to discuss on HN. I'm tempted to flag the post as spam. [1]http://www.lulu.com/shop/fred-benenson/emoji-dick-hard-cover/hardcover/product-12555990.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/fred-benenson/emoji-dick-hard-cover... [2]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fred/emoji-dick https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fred/emoji-dick [3]http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-revolution-will-be-crowdsourced-and-cute http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-revolution-wi...

DEinspanjer 12y ago

I noticed this title with passing interest a few days back, but upon discovering that the only preview I could find goes no further than the TOC and hence shows no actual sample of the usage of emoji to tell the story, I really couldn't see the value in spending $40 on it. At this point, I am still not entirely clear whether the editor intended this as an actual work of art he wants to sell or just a farce. If it was a farce, I'd at least recommend selling fractions of the book for $1 each. I imagine he'd at least get a chunk of curious visitors to take a peek.

tempodox 12y ago

That “language” seems extremely whimsical to me. But then, it's probably just sign-of-the-times — as a parody, it would hit the spot. In two or three generations, we won't be able to read letters any more anyway, so we might as well switch to pictograms right now. They're also more economic with mobile touch-screen interfaces. I'm sure there's an app for that. Nevertheless, I miss a peek inside the book. Can't imagine what it looks like. Will it actually be readable (if you want to call it that) or is it just an alternative resting place for the dust on the shelf?

ghubbard 12y ago

The CC-BY-SA pdf can be found here: http://www.czyborra.com/unicode/emojidick.pdf http://www.czyborra.com/unicode/emojidick.pdf