I didn’t understand “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges. I usually read only the textbooks used in class and have never read novels or fiction in the English language before, which make it difficult for me. It is the same as when I read newspapers in the English language, the language that journalists use is different from that in the textbooks that I study in classes. I hope someone can help me understand what points Borges wishes to make.

In “Six Selections by the Oulipo”, by Raymond Queneau et al., I didn’t understand “A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems” but I did like “Yours for the Telling.” In “A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems”, I think the author wants to show how sentenses can be arranged to make a story. It depends on how we order and choose what we want to read. “Yours for the Telling” reminds me of my favorite books that I read when I was young. At the beginning of the book gives you a situation and then at the end of each directs you to choose what aspect of the story you would like to pursue and tell you how to continue. You can create your own story in your own way by going back and forth along the book. It is not the kind of a book that you can read from the first page to the last page but you can enjoy choosing what you like, and your choices take you in different directions. After taking this class and reading some articles that relate to hypertext, I think this kind of book is one type of hypertext but in the form of a book not on the computer. In this way, you can jump to another page of the book by using the choice in the bottom of each page to guide you the same as in a computer when you click a text and it takes you to another portion of the page or another page.

As I didn’t have a chance to go to Crookshank Hall, I didn’t read Afternoon by Michael Joyce. I only read a review of this book on the Internet. New York Times states that this book is a granddaddy of hypertext fictions. Although I’m not sure whether I would understand this fiction, I would very much like to read it. I hope Prof. Fitzpatrick will show and discuss this book in the class.

"Hypertext and Critical Theory" by George Landow talks about hypertext and how it changes the way we read. He compares the clusters of stars in a galaxy to the cluster of words in hypertext. Hypertext changes the way we read by turning the page of a book in the traditional way to clicking a mouse on the computer. This reminds me of “Yours for the Telling”. With the concept of hypertext, the reader can click and jump to another content without reading in order from start to end. The author also states that when we read by using hypertext, it may not be as convenient as reading a textbook. With a book, you can carry it to the bathroom and it is easy to bookmark and take anywhere. However, hypertext provides other benefits. We can link content and knowledge indefinitely. Sometimes when I click the link on the Internet, I keep clicking to other topics that I’m interested in until I forget where and what I wanted to read at the beginning.

“Nonlinearity and Literary Theory” by Espen Aarseth links the concept of hypertext that Landow talked about. In Aarseth’s article, he described that people have said that after technology help to invent new media such as the Internet, the book will be dead. They said it is the crisis of the text and it will be the end of printed media. Now people are changing the way they write and read. For instance, we use Blog and Wiki to represent our ideas to the world by using the Internet and the computer as media. However, I don’t believe that hypertext will defeat text. I can’t imagine bringing a tablet PC to read the newspaper in bathroom. It is not convenient at all. Electronic equipment needs power but textbooks don’t need it. When there is a power outage, you can use sunlight from nature to read newspapers and books but you can’t watch TV or use a computer. I think these two media have a different usability. They both have their own benefits. Technology can replace what we have now if in the future we have high technology that make people forget what they are used to now, especially if that technology is really great and make a paradigm shift. At that time, people may be willing to change.