Doing it the hard way: the easy way

                                                                                                                                                                             
Oh Steve, where would I be without you?  How did I ever survive the 90's?  Computers were mammoths, phones were clubs, and I was a caveman barely escaping the primordial swamp gasping for air.  You were my Prometheus; my Savior!  All hail the great and terrible Steve! A name forever to be remembered with fear and trembling.
Facetiousness aside, the iPhone is pretty cool and the recent explosion of technological advances has made things which were once tedious far more manageable.  This has never been more apparent to me than now as I read Ulysses.  I can't imagine going back to a time when I would have needed at least 4 or more books open in order to understand what I am reading.  Let's see, I would need the regular printed copy of the novel, an English dictionary because of Joyce's vast vocabulary, if the text were not annotated I would need Latin, French, and German dictionaries (possibly others as I am only 50 pages into the book), and a book analyzing the book.  I would literally need a book about the book to understand everything that is going on.  So how many books is that?  Six and counting. I am not even sure if one library table would be enough.  Thanks to the messianic iPhone, I have everything I need in the palm of my hand.  I can highlight a mysterious word and the definition immediately reveals itself  Sparknotes and other sources are just a few clicks and a swipe of the finger away.  So seriously, thank you Steve Jobs and thank you science.