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Interestingly enough, I found myself wondering, as I was choosing blogs to share with you all, what a blog was.

I found one blog that is rarely updated and which does not include the option for others to comment. It is, however, extremely grammatically correct along with narcissistic, crude, and downright offensive. But I love it anyway. Although quite amusing, it is not really the best page in the universe. For those who feel overwhelmed, I would suggest heading to the bottom of the page and reading the topics under "Read these classics or go to hell." Enjoy.

Another blog, updated more than once a day, is a quite interesting source of other people’s ideas and creations. The author rarely writes a long and detailed blog about his opinions and thoughts. Instead, he usually tells a story or provides a picture, comic, or video that may interest the reader. Maybe the friendly atheist is being a bit too friendly by not voicing his opinions. Oh well, I form some of my own by reading it so I guess he has at least achieved something.

Yet another blog that I enjoy fits the more stereotypical definition of a blog. The author updates the blog often; he talks about his life, his opinions, and the world around him. He is quite funny and entertaining. He has a comments section where people can write anonymous comments regarding his posts. The site name is a mouthful: it is pharyngula.

And hark! Be that another blog that I see, rising from the horizon like a great white whale? But this time, it is a normal blog in disguise; this one is written by science writers. Not just normal science writers, but ones who work for nature. This blog keeps you updated on all the goings-on in the world of science and the great beyond.

Heavens me… where does that leave us? What genre does a blog belong to? Must it be updated often? Must it include a section for outside comments from readers? Must it be by hired writers or by freelancers? Must it include its own original content? What a strange and unruly world this train of thought has left us in.

Perhaps we chose the wrong path, the wrong trajectory. Perhaps the blog is in fact straightforward and simple to categorize. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps: but rather, not. I predict that the genre of the blog will be just as murky (or maybe more) as the previous genres we have tried to simplify.

Some core differences between blogs and books: the ability to edit and the ability to respond to comments. Books, however, have the tendency to be trusted more than blogs. Books have been weeded out and labeled by someone as worthy of our eyes. Blogs, on the other hand, are a case of first generation ideas that have not been run through an editor, a printing press, or a critic before entering our brain. On the other hand, its faster shutter speed has allowed the blog’s view of the world to dominate the present, up to date, here-and-now opinions.

Will blogs ever replace books? I don’t think so—their qualities are so different and their benefits and setbacks so defining, that one could never replace the other. Instead, the blogs will probably run off with the books and form a giant orgy of multiplicity; the spawn will be a completely new genre that we cannot even fathom. Will it take up the ‘best’ characteristics of both? Or will it, inevitably, take up the worst?

I am happy to wait and see. I wouldn’t dare spoil the ending for myself by guessing.