Possibilities for the Portland Red Guide

Ooligan Press published The Portland Red Guide almost two years ago, and it has proven to be a very popular book for us. In it, Michael Munk show takes readers on a tour of Portland's radical past. The book is organized like a travel guide book, with sites important to the leftist history of town clearly marked in well-designed maps that take readers on walking tours of Portland.

Books that give information are great to have in electronic format; in any reference work, the ability to search and find the information you need is paramount. Finding information, as Google can attest, is much easier when book are in electronic form. Imagine knowing that The Red Guide had an entry about the home of notable radical writer John Reed, but not being able to remember where the article was. The ability to search the book electronically makes finding this information much easier.

That is hardly the limits of the possibilities for ThePortland Red Guide, though. GPS technology is increasingly ubiquitous in handheld devices, including smart phones and ebook readers. Imagine a guidebook that knew where you were and could tell you what was nearby: "You are currently across the street from the site of Miss Caitlin's School for Girls." As ebooks become more and more popular, this sort of added electronic content will become more and more imporatnt. A revloution in reading is right around the corner. . . .