IN PRAISE OF GOOGLE BOOKS (September 12, 2012)
Browsing the World Wide Web, I unexpectedly come upon a reference to my Istrian Postcards (2003) on Google Books. Curiously, Miša Jovanović is listed as my co-author. Actually, he was but my publisher. When I look closer, I see the covers of three books deemed related to mine. The first is The Dhammapada, a collection of aphorisms that illustrate the Buddha’s teachings; the second is Yoga Spandakarika: The Sacred Texts at the Origins of Tantra by Daniel Odier; and the third is The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean by John Julius Norwich. As it happens, I love all three books. I love them passionately, too. Thus I am elated that they are considered related to my own book about the return to the land of my ancestors. Although I wonder about the method by which Google Books has established the link between the three books and my own, I cannot but praise the enterprise. It borders on prescience.