Over the past few weeks your editor has been squeezing in time to read "The Book on the Bookshelf" by Henry Petrosky, first profiled in The E-Sylum on October 25, 1999. The book is a fascinating account of the evolution of the bookshelf, something we bibliophiles take for granted today.

One step in the evolution was the chained library. In the era preceding the modern printing press, books were laboriously hand-made and thus all were quite rare and valuable.

This constraint led to other developments, for

About a week after reading this passage I was struck with a realization that the evolution continues today, and in one sense has come full circle. Today's scholars sit not just in front of books, but computer screens as well. While becoming less expensive each year, computers are still a valuable item that the owners don't want to "walk away".

At my office I use a laptop computer, and when I'm not carrying it with me, it remains fastened to the desk by the means of a long, low-tech chain. Someday technology will further reduce the cost of the device such that the chains will once again disappear from desks, no doubt to return again to secure the next generation's newfangled devices.