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If Monks Had Macs


By Brian Thomas

"Legendary ... almost defies description" was MacUser magazine's appraisal of the original 1988 If Monks had Macs.

MacWeek magazine praised the 1995 edition as "a seminal work of hypermedia art."

Everyone that worked on the first two editions met in Macintosh User Groups in Los Angeles and Portland. The first editon was a free gift to everyone in the Macintosh community that was distributed exclusively my Macintosh User Groups.

If Monks Had Macs 2005

The 2005 edition of the Monks CD-ROM is a much heartier stew of interactive books, games, art and music that works with the latest Macintosh and Windows operating systems.

New explorations in digital photography and film take the artist's passion for art and ideas out of the library and into the streets.

If Monks had Macs is available for purchase from rivertext.com for $29. (However, read on to find out about all we are still giving away for free.)

Monk's provocative text is beautifully illustrated, quick and deep. The volume on The White Rose resistance to the Nazis features the photos and memoirs of one of their surviving members, the music of Beethoven, Schubert and Bach, art of the German Expressionists and a new focus on the relationship between art and resistance. The new edition of the Monks 24 volume library includes a new game and a new tool.

Killing Time

The newest game, Killing Time, is contemplative solitaire for monks. Now everyone can practice "safe-solitaire." The new version of the unique Monks "threaded" journal is a tool for exploring your inner world.

Sophie

Sophie, the new e-book reader, is a tool for exploring the outside world. The new Mac OS 10.3 compatible version 1.02 of the Sophie e-book reader is available as a free download. It comes with ten free ebooks that range from Thoreau's Walden to a brand new edition of H.G. Wells science fiction classic The War of the Worlds.

If Monks had Macs

Brian Thomas has been mixing art and ideas on the internet since 1986. (In the earliest days, before the World Wide Web, folks used internet utilities like Fetch and Gopher to find his unique mixes of fun and games and serious ideas.) If Monks had Macs has been recognized as one of the most memorable programs of the first 20 years of the Macintosh.

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Reviewed by Fred Showker for the User Group Network News Service. (C) 2004, all rights reserved. Affiliate groups may freely republish this piece so long as they include the tag line: "From the User Group Network News Service at http://www.user-groups.net/ " ... Event dates are subject to change. Some products, programs, or promotions are not available outside the U.S. Prices are estimated retail prices and are listed in U.S. dollars. Product specifications are subject to change. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, Power Mac, Velocity Engine, FireWire, AirPort, Safari, Sherlock, QuickTime, iLife, iTunes, iChat, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iCal and Apple Store are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither a recommendation nor an endorsement.

 

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