Comments on: Computer-Generated Books https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/ Nick Montfort Thu, 31 Oct 2019 22:36:38 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: Nick Montfort https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-909847 Wed, 11 Sep 2019 17:08:13 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-909847 In reply to Stephen Pentecost.

Looks beautiful! I have ordered a copy, and will get it into the bibliography once it arrives.

]]> By: Stephen Pentecost https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-909834 Wed, 11 Sep 2019 15:42:22 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-909834 Here’s one I did a couple of years ago:

https://robineggsky.com/posts/browne.html

]]> By: Lazy Reading for 2018/02/04 – DragonFly BSD Digest https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-855727 Sun, 04 Feb 2018 13:46:29 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-855727 […] Computer-generated books, a list. […]

]]> By: Nick Montfort https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-836103 Sat, 30 Sep 2017 01:02:40 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-836103 Tim, the photo of 1.207 is great. I love that there are running heads on there so when the person standing next to you in the subway looks over your shoulder to see what book you’re reading, they can find out.

I know (or knew) of Sitatori’s work but am glad to be reminded of it, and to learn of this JanusNode-based book, too.

]]> By: Tim Drage https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-836007 Fri, 29 Sep 2017 10:47:45 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-836007 No problem :) and glad you like the book

I only have the 1.207 seconds one, here’s a quick phone photo. Pretty minimalist as you can see. Knowing jliat, I imagine the other one is similar or identical in format but with more and different meaningless 1s and 0s :)

https://i.imgur.com/kp3SxjR.jpg

I’m pretty sure that Bizzarro cyberpunk author and (at one time) prolific to the point of spam noise-scene collaborator Kenji Siratori’s novels are entirely computer generated. The stuff I’ve seen at least looks like very repetitive markov chain (or maybe an even simpler random text generator) output to me. Probably some japanese-english machine translation involved too I think. The most ‘well known’ of his works i think, tho he produced many more in the early/mid 2000s https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Electric-Kenji-Siratori/dp/1840680601

Also, the author of my favourite text-randomisation/generation software JanusNode – http://www.janusnode.com/ – made a book using the software. It consists of short questions/topics/writing-queues with lots of blank space in which to elaborate on them, rather than being a novel or dense text. http://www.lulu.com/shop/janusnode/you-can-bring-an-elephant-to-a-broadway-show-but-you-cannot-make-it-drink-chablis-365-computer-generated-excuses-to-converse/paperback/product-20265358.html

]]> By: Nick Montfort https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-835713 Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:48:24 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-835713 One of the nice things about including the pseudo-generative cases, such as Cementimental’s Untitled Harsh Noise Graphic Novel, is that we get nice comments like this as a result – thank you for this, Tim. Another is that this is a fine book and of interest to people engaged with computing and unusual sound/visual aesthetics. And finally, someone is often willing to do a more ‘pure’ version of the project, as you show with James Whitehead’s two books. I do wish I had some page spreads of the two to help me make my buying decision…

]]> By: Tim Drage https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-835702 Tue, 26 Sep 2017 11:08:22 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-835702 Interesting list, thanks for putting it together!

John Pound’s computer generated comics might be of interest if you haven’t seen: http://www.poundart.com/art/randcomix/about.html

My own book ‘Cementimental’s Untitled Harsh Noise Graphic Novel’ is perhaps best described as pseudo-generative, it was semi-manually created using ‘found algorithms’ via repeated application of certain effects in a vintage paint program. More info in this recent interview – https://medium.com/@wintermute2097/introducing-cementimental-b23713166a0b

somewhat inspired by discussion about my book on the Harsh Noise forums, jliat has put out a couple of much more minimalist Noise books, simply white noise converted into data:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-whitehead/1207-seconds-of-noise/paperback/product-14705022.html
http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-whitehead/2575-seconds-of-noise/paperback/product-15054188.html
http://jliat.com/

]]> By: Brendan Howell https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-748408 Fri, 29 Jul 2016 11:33:31 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-748408 Great resource! I’m not sure if they fit your definition but both < href=”https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exquisite_code-Edit-Software-Python/dp/1906496471/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469791883&sr=8-1&keywords=exquisite_code”>exquisite_code and Heroic Real Estate Otter of the 21st Century were rather brutally edited (and typeset 90% from a database) by software.

]]> By: Nick Montfort https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-747672 Sat, 23 Jul 2016 12:40:28 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-747672 Good call, Matt. I’ve added that, which brings us to 31 entries.

]]> By: matt w https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-747671 Sat, 23 Jul 2016 12:27:46 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-747671 What about the manual from A Slow Year? Only about two-thirds of the page count is machine-generated but still that seems like quite a bit.

]]> By: Nick Montfort https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-747537 Fri, 22 Jul 2016 06:28:48 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-747537 Also, so far I’m not including chapbooks, although I could. Katie Rose Pipkin has one, and there’s the early A House of Dust by Alison Knowles and James Tenney.

]]> By: Nick Montfort https://nickm.com/post/2016/07/computer-generated-books/comment-page-1/#comment-747535 Fri, 22 Jul 2016 06:20:06 +0000 http://nickm.com/post/?p=4424#comment-747535 everyword by Allison Parrish has been published as an ebook by a press … but is not in print.

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