The Mechanic Muse - What Is Distant Reading? - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/books/review/the-mechanic-muse-what-is-distant-reading.html?amp;_r=0
“Ars longa,” the ancient saying goes, “vita brevis.” Art is long, life short, and the problem is intensifying. As the literary ars lurches exponentially more longa — accommodating the printing press, “Gravity’s Rainbow,” Google Books — our collective TBR pile towers ever more vertiginously overhead. Which raises a question: What are we mortal beings supposed to do with all these books?