"An Alphabet that Thinks"

Richard A. Lanham's discussion of electronic text in The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information begins effectively enough, illuminating the gap between the ability of the new media to "make complex arguments easier and quicker to understand" and the limited extent to which textual expression in the digital realm has been realized (130).  However, the critical flaw in Lanham's argument is his failure to define "an alphabet that thinks," the term around which he shapes his argument (130).  While his commentary on the talismanic properties of physical books versus the non-visually informative electronic books is interesting, it lacks insight because of his unclear framing thesis.  Furthermore, Lanham describes a series of barriers to the progress and innovation of electronic text but fails to engage readers in the import of the technology itself.