The essay "The Disappearing $2,000 Dollar Book," by Gerald Jonas, addresses a slightly exaggerated theory. Jonas predicts that, because of the overwhelming presence of the Internet and other technological advances, permanent literary works will become things of the past. He also comments on another idea of importance-- the similarities between the artistic and literary worlds. Art and literature are things that people value, and Jonas believes that they have both become expendable. The final point in the essay is how significant maintaining print should be to the public.

The author's suggestion that books and art may disappear in a short period of time is supported by his references to Agrippa (A Book of the Dead), an innovative text created by artist Dennis Ashbaugh and writer William Gibson. The book is in a metal case holding ninety-three rag paper pages, while the remaining sixty pages are fused together. In the center of the book is a diskette. Once the disk is inserted into a computer port, a virus on it causes the words of the book to disappear from the page. I do not know if this book necessarily proves the author's theory. I believe print will always exist and that the idea of a disappearing book is only a theory. One has to take into consideration that there will always be people who cannot afford to take advantage of technological advances. Another reason I believe that Jonas' fear is only a theory is that viruses can be decoded, as was the one written into the Agrippa novel.

The author's next point is that art and literature share a common ground. He makes a valid argument by quoting Kevin Begos, Jr., publisher for the Limited Additions Club, who said, "If you pay thousands of dollars for a limited addition, you're not likely to curl up in bed with it" (288). When people purchase expensive artwork, they do not make a habit of handling their treasures frequently because they know that art can become permanently damaged. Gibson and Ashbaugh had those people in mind when they created Agrippa (A Book of the Dead). I believe their intent was to capture the artistic value in words by taking advantage of the current trends of the computer age.

Although I am hesitant to agree with Jonas that texts will become extinct, I must say that the mere fact that Gibson and Ashbaugh created this work shows that such an extinction is a slight possibility. Email is a very good example. In the past, when people communicated through letter writing, often recipients would keep letters sent to them. However, with the invention of Email, people simply read information and delete it from their mailbox. According to Gibson, the global network that includes the Whole Earth 'Letronic Link and "the world-spanning Internet" is the model for the "information super highway" (289).

In conclusion, I think that Gibson and Ashbaugh want collectors to appreciate the impact of computers on writing and to assume that most things and ideas have the potential to become obsolete. The poem that disappears from the Agrippa diskette signifies that possibility, and it goes as follows:

When the colored restroom
was no longer required
they knocked open the cinderblock
and extended the magazine rack
to new dimensions,
a cool florescent cave of dreams
smelling faintly and forever of disinfectant ...
There it was I was marked out as a writer

of science fiction,

having discovered in that alcove
copies of certain magazines
esoteric and precious. (290)

Jonas, Gerald. "The Disappearing $2,000 Book." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 287-290.