Retro glue attaches old thinking, old values, and old habits to new technologies. Retro glue can be a comfort, allowing the best elements of the old to adhere to the new so that we can see how similar the new thing is to our old standbys. It’s what drove Model T’s to look like buggies, what prompted early movies to be staged like theater. The e-book devices all strive to present a page of text exactly like a familiar printed page, and the button that turns each “page” doesn’t even require you to consult a user’s manual. But retro glue can also attach things that don’t belong. And the retro glue dripping off the e-book may, I fear, attach the worst of the last century’s paradigm of intellectual property to the new century’s publishing models. – Chronicle of Higher Education