The hypothetical thought experiment goes something like: if one has an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite number of typewriters then eventually one of them will recreate the works of Shakespeare. It seems like a difficult concept to grasp and an even more ludicrous notion but it is a very perfect study in random stochastic events. To consider so many monkeys typing away and the only acceptable output being the works of Shakespeare skews the odds further. "No, damn you! This is Tolkien! Get back to your typing thy simian fiend and do not come back until you have written the Dane!€
When I started reviewing whatever I could download of e-books from self-publishers I did so with a reasonable belief that there is gold out there. It turns out that this is very true. It struck me as the latest review was forming the other day that we should expect greatness and important contributions. There are up to 7 billion hominids on this little globe and hundreds of millions have typewriters and time. A proportion of these Hunt and peck'ers can and will take the opportunity to create and publish. Greatness is inevitable. Clearly, not everything is going to be good. There is a normal distribution to all things. Even if greatness is a one in a million chance then there are thousands of these out there either forming or published or lingering waiting to be discovered. There are simply so many enriching stories, novels, thoughts and poems. There is greatness out there and there will be more in the future. The search continues and is very invigorating.
I set my goal to read and review as many ebooks as I can in 2013. So long as it is clearly a self-published effort and has not been reviewed before it will be on the radar. It will be an interesting adventure.
My kindle, a gift a couple of years ago now has been a close friend since then. This is a device of liberation. There is no excuse for sticking to one genre or following a single author. Not having been a member of a library for thirty years, it is freedom of a sort to once again have an almost limitless supply of possibilities at ones fingertips. I want to use that opportunity to discover the self-published greats. Even if the one getting the benefit is me, I consider that the enrichment is worth the effort and the feedback that I can give might be €inspiration', at least that is the plan.