As far as I have gathered, hypertext is designed to mimic the way that we think, and is designed to imitate a conversational interaction between people. It is true that we don’t think linearly, in that we don’t know the end to our thought before we reach it; such is the process of thinking. Though there is vital value in reading linearly. Have you ever noticed that during or after reading a novel, you begin to speak more concisely? Reading someone else’s thoughts from beginning to end teaches discipline and articulation in the reader’s own speech. Perhaps if the style of books were to be replaced with interactive narratives that offered links that allowed the reader to pursue another train of thought, our ability to construct sentences to express ourselves and even to listen would dwindle…
