Mr. Benkler said he saw the project as "simply an experiment of how books might
be in the future." That is one of the hottest debates in the book world right
now, as publishers, editors and writers grapple with the Web's ability to
connect readers and writers more quickly and intimately, new technologies that
make it easier to search books electronically and the advent of digital devices
that promise to do for books what the iPod has done for music: making them easily
downloadable and completely portable.