Early readers of HotSpot Confidential (both of them) may have noted how I tried to
walk the tightrope between online and offline. The first edition of the ebook
contains just three or four lifelines to the Internet. I blame the Kindle, my
original platform, which doesn't make linking easy.

But from now on: no more Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to coddling unconnected
readers. Ubiquitous connectivity is coming. That's the forecast, and I'm setting my
course accordingly.

Why? Let's think about what a connected ebook enables:

• Unmediated access to the primary source material. Why summarize and
  paraphrase, Doris Kearns Goodwin-style, when you can link to the raw,
  unfiltered data? Let the reader decide how much detail he or she can handle.
  (Of course, I'm talking about non-fiction ebooks here. Fiction writers and
  readers....nevermind.)
• Up-to-dateness. When you link to a resource on the Internet, and that
  resource updates, the reader gets the freshest version, not the version you
  bundled up six months earlier. Of course that means that the author has to
  monitor links that change location when they update information, but that's
  what changelogs are for.
• Eliminate the need for companion Web surfing. How many times have you
  Googled a name or a reference in a book -- just to see what has happened
  since the book was written? That's unavoidable when you're reading a
  paper-and-ink book. But an e-book? Why not obviate the Googley companion.
  But what about the transporting nature of an
  uninterrupted read?

  Virginia Heffernan, the New York Times Magazine media columnist, wrote a paen to the Kindle's ability to take her to that isolated place where there's no
  connectivity, no electronic interruptions.

  I get it. But isn't that what printed books, magazines and newspapers are good
  for? Last I checked, print material is relatively inexpensive, and readily available
  in places where connectivity is scarce, like airports.

  So, fair warning, the trend here is heading towards the hyperlink-tastic.