Yes, when I was first starting out in the publishing industry 23 years ago, I bemoaned our shift from the sounds of industrial age machines to computer-age machines. I had (still have) a 1923 Underwood typewriter that I used throughout college to write my papers, and there was something viscerally satisfying about the scrape and clank of that thing, the ratcheting of the gears, and tink of that tiny bell, the grating of the carriage return. My typewriter had so much more character than my computer, with its plastic keys and its green-glowing screen, the dot-matrix printer that burbled and grunted and then shrieked its way, a quarter of a line at a time, across the page.

Now, the sounds of that printer are gone, as well. Our modern printers are demure things, only occasionally scraping the next sheet out of the tray.

Just curious what your thoughts are on this now that new readers won’t have the same association with sounds that were previously part of our daily lives? Maybe a new blog post?

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/the-fading-sounds-of-analog-technology/

You, Sir, nailed it in a single page! I realize such a short article would diminish the length of many a writing book. But, the reader would understand what ” Sensory Perception” was all about.

I salute you.

Thanks again for your comment!