Penguin’s Big Thoughts About Electronic Books

Commenting on Penguin’s head-long plunge into iPad waters, CNET points out that this is a publishing house that was founded on the idea of innovation:

Penguin Books came into existence because of a realization on a train platform. Penguin’s founder, Allen Lane, was returning from a weekend with the famous mystery writer Agatha Christie, and looked in the train station’s book stall for something to read on his journey back to London. Finding only popular magazines and poor-quality, luridly written novels, he wondered why there was not anything for the reader who wanted some good-quality fiction at a low price.

It’s clear that Penguin has done some pretty serious thinking about the electronic book revolution so many people see coming. Here’s a taste of what the company thinks at least one aspect of the future of the book might look like.