Infinite Jest vs. Technology

David Foster Wallace's magnus opus Infinite Jest is in many ways difficult for the sake of being difficult. It seems like a practical joke on the reader: 1,100 pages, 100 of which are small-point endnotes; jarring changes in writing style; non-linear narrative; dozens and dozens of characters; and jargon from myriad fields. One reader suggests to use three bookmarks or perhaps even tear the book in half for easier transport.

Reading has changed in subtle ways since the book's release in 1996, giving us new tools to eliminate some of the drudgery:

1) Newer Kindles can overlay the endnote right on top of the page you're reading, while older ones can seamlessly jump from endnote to main text in a tap
2) The Kindle can render the originally tiny endnote font into whatever size you'd like.
3) The Kindle can instantly define the tough words, though it can't help with the invented jargon or acronyms.
4) The web offers tons of guides. I have bookmarked chapter summaries, the chronology of Subsidized Time, and a list of characters. I can also Google random things I'm wondering about. It's easy to forget that not long ago, it was impossible to get this information instantly.

All of this has made Jest an easier task. Is that good or bad?

But J.K. Rowling DOES Have a Price ...

She wouldn't allow someone to pay her to have their child's name in her Harry Potter series, according to the Financial Times.

I would argue that she does have a price, but none of us has enough money. But imagine if Bill Gates wanted the above transaction and offered Rowling a cool $1 billion. Even if more money has no marginal value for her personally given her vast wealth, a billion dollars could do an immense amount of good for the charities of her choice. It would be impossible to deny the world so much good for something so trivial.

But she, like anyone else, probably wouldn't be able to tell you her price ahead of time, until the money is actually on the table.

Tom Sawyer: Economist

Economists since Adam Smith have demonstrated that the way to riches is trading. Through comparative advantage, we can trade for things that are cheaper for others to produce than they would be for us to produce ourselves--leaving both parties better off. Happily, this often takes the form of the buyer thinking "I can't believe this product is so cheap" while the seller is thinking "I can't believe people are paying me so much to produce this."

In light of this, I found the following passage from Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" rather amusing:

"Nothing but a tick."

"Where'd you get him?"

"Out in the woods."

"What'll you take for him?"

"I don't know. I don't want to sell him."

"All right. It's a mighty small tick, anyway."

"Oh, anybody can run a tick down that don't belong to them. I'm satisfied with it. It's a good enough tick for me."

"Sho, there's ticks a plenty. I could have a thousand of 'em if I wanted to."

"Well, why don't you? Becuz you know mighty well you can't. This is a pretty early tick, I reckon. It's the first one I've seen this year."

"Say, Huck— I'll give you my tooth for him."

"Less see it."

Tom got out a bit of paper and carefully unrolled it. Huckleberry viewed it wistfully. The temptation was very strong. At last he said:

"Is it genuwyne?"

Tom lifted his lip and showed the vacancy.

"Well, all right," said Huckleberry, "it's a trade."

Tom enclosed the tick in the percussion-cap box that had lately been the pinchbug's prison, and the boys separated, each feeling wealthier than before.