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My father warned about the TV Monsters. These creepy creatures lurked in a dark forest, waiting to catch and chew up an unwary kid.

There was a way to get safely through those sinister woods. The TV Monsters couldn’t hurt you if you held a book in front of your face.

Now imagine substituting “tablet computer” for “book” — talk about fairy tales.

The Internet is the greatest advance in communications since the invention of movable type. Technology has given us new and useful ways of conveying information. Someday digital devices may replace paper.

But for the feel of civilization, of human thought and achievement, I’ll take a library or bookstore any day. I’d rather see a parent read to his or her child in the evening than plunk the kid in front of a computer.

Some parents don’t have either choice. It is for them — but especially for their children — that I ask you to consider supporting the Mercury News’ “Gift of Reading” drive this holiday season. (You can call 1-408-882-0900, ext. 11 or visit the Web site for more information.)

The campaign, co-sponsored by the non-profit Kids in Common, is aptly named. Few activities bring as much usefulness and satisfaction to our lives as reading. With a goal of 65,000 books, we’re talking about many, many gifts.

Remember, this is about children’s books. New volumes — but not coloring books or textbooks — are best, say the organizers, and any used book should look like new. Don’t gift-wrap the books, please.

Maybe the TV Monsters won’t thank you for your generosity. But you don’t even have to see them complain. Just hold a book in front of your face — and give one to a kid who can do the same.

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Doc Searls (Linux Journal): Google vs. AllTheWeb. I’ve been an AllTheWeb user
since it started, and I still use their image searches as much as I use Google’s. If you’re in heavy
search mode, it’s better to choose between them with AND logic, not
OR.

I admit I’m a Google bigot. I’ve been playing with AllTheWeb, too, and hadn’t found it blatantly great. Doc’s article suggests I’m missing something.

But I’ll be looking harder at this engine in the future.

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Today, we Americans celebrate our finest holiday, Thanksgiving. For the third year in a row, I’m overseas. I’ll be joining a group of expatriates in Hong Kong this evening, but I will miss my family and friends at home.

America shone with citizenship at its best for a few days following the Sept. 11 attacks. Smugness has faded, but pettiness and greed — for naked power and wealth — remain too much the coin of the land.

There are still plenty of pilgrims around. They refuse to accept the way things are. They reject pure grasping for power and money. They are outnumbered and outspent in the halls of power, but their day may return if the people recognize what is happening.

For all our flaws, we are still a great nation. Tonight I will raise a glass to family and far-away friends. I will pay silent salute to the brave people worldwide who champion and fight for justice.

My material table overflows with bounty this Thanksgiving. I am grateful beyond words for a life of comfort and relative safety in a deeply troubled world. I don’t think I’ve ever taken such things for granted, but in this time of conflict those blessings count for so much more.

I’m grateful, too, for my opportunity to constantly explore and learn. I hope to sustain a spiritual pilgrimage — for life, for justice.

And on Thanksgiving Day 2001, I wish the same for you.

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I took this amateurish photograph — apologies — in the middle of a lecture last night at Tsinghua University. The topic was how the media and technology have changed since September 11. I focused on media’s shifts, which had already begun before the attacks but which came into full flower afterwards.

The audience was attentive, and the questions were challenging. I continue to be impressed by the people I meet in China.

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I just got an online postcard. The e-mail message inviting me to click on the postcard link also warned that I would be bound by these terms and conditions.

No, thanks.

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At a big venture capital conference last week, the conversation was all about China. Was this finally the time that investing in the world’s most populous nation would pay off?

Certainly the money people I met at the Asian Venture Capital Forum tended to think so. There were surprisingly few nay-sayers. That’s often a danger sign, but I guess they know more than I do.

More in my Sunday column, part of the Mercury News’ quarterly survey of venture capital.

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CNet: MS to settle antitrust cases; kids benefit.

Maybe…

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