Roberto Cicala, from the backbet of return to the AI, the world of books today

In a time in which the other-book object seems to oscillate between survival and reinvention, between nostalgic fetish and a vehicle of new forms of knowledge, the second edition of The mechanisms of publishing by Roberto Cicala (Il Mulino “Itineraries”, pp. Therefore, 292, Euro 24.00) is proposed as an essay capable of rectracting the editorial world with the gaze of those who have been studying. For example, teaches him for years. Meanwhile, The subtitle – The world of books from paper to artificial intelligence – immediately clarifies the intent to map a landscape in transformation: that of the contemporary book chain. Moreover, narrow between the twentieth -century legacy and the challenges proposed by the digital era.

At the basis of the structural crisis that crosses the system there is a fact that deserves greater attention: that form of return illiteracy identified at the roberto cicala, backbet return ai, time by Tullio De Mauro. Consequently, which translates into a growing difficulty, by large bands of the population, in understanding complex and articulated texts. Moreover, The result is an impoverishment of social dialogue. Similarly, a fracture in the transmission of knowledge, and a progressive loss of the perception of the book as a common good and critical tool.

It is also to respond to this urgency that The mechanisms of publishing Articulates his speech in three sections. The first analyzes the state of contemporary publishing. with its contradictions and resistance; The second reconstructs the stages of the editorial path – from writing to reading, along the invisible threads that transform a text into a book; Finally, the third opens up to a reflection on the near future, questioning the challenges of accessibility, sustainability, digital transformation and artificial intelligence. Cicala’s style alternates essay rigor to exemplary narration, intertwining theory and practice, roberto cicala, backbet return ai, history and topicality, concrete cases and general observations.

The publishing is presented as a living system. made of figures, places, and languages, crossed by a multitude of voices – authors, editors, translators, graphics, scouts, booksellers, readers – which return its collective and composite dimension to direct. Each phase of the editorial process is accompanied by illustrious examples. between the twentieth and two thousand: from the laboratories of Eco and Vassalli to the experience of the “Meridiani” Mondadori, from the Einaudians to the impact of the self–publishingfrom Vittorini’s editing to Harry Potter’s school reception.

In the choral. stratified framework that the publishing mechanisms compose, the figure of Piero Gobetti – publisher and militant intellectual – rises to an ethical and design model still capable of speaking to our present. The ideal publisher. for Gobetti, is “man of library and typography, artist and merchant”: a figure who combines cultural rigor and entrepreneurial roberto cicala, backbet return ai, awareness, without ever giving in to compromise, but without even neglecting “the fundamental problem of any industry: the turnover that guarantees the infinite multiplication of a small amount of circulating”.

The volume. enriched by deepening boxes, lexical notes and multimedia materials that can be consulted online, deals with the most urgent themes of the present editorial: the crisis of strong readers, the fragility of deep reading, digital piracy, the balance between crafts and industry. Cicala invites to interpret the changes in place without abandoning the founding principles of cultural mediation: responsibility, care, awareness.

This approach finds its most acute expression in the final chapter, dedicated to artificial intelligence. The author recognizes its transformative potential, but warns against any blind delegation. The IA can generate texts. build paratests, suggest titles, profile readers, but cannot replace the critical judgment, the linguistic intuition, the responsibility for the choice.

Artificial intelligence. Cicala writes, is roberto cicala, backbet return ai, not an enemy to be rejected nor an oracle to venerate: it is a challenge to be taken with critical lucidity, integrating it into an editorial project that continues to recognize in the book a tool of thought, a form of knowledge, a shared responsibility. Also, and perhaps above all, when a algorithm that does not know the value of responsibility generates content.

Autoriance. copyright, the very function of the publisher as a mediator figure are now called to redefine themselves, without losing their identity. Also in this warning. the Gobettian lesson of the publisher called as the custodian of a high and civil idea of ​​his profession resounds, especially when new technologies risk reducing their function to that of simple material executor. On the other hand. his editions were always born in the sign of a high and intransigent intentionality, evoked by the Alfierian motto that inspired the path roberto cicala, backbet return ai, and was imprinted on every published work: “What do I have to do with slaves?”.