One of the things that I pondered on while reading the section on the earliest photobooks was that the critics of Talbot's The Pencil of Nature, where not fair in their critique. As I read the writings from the The Pencil of Nature, I really appreciated his telling of how he came about his discovery. I was amazed at his honesty of his mistakes that he came across during his experimentation and his rivalry/competition with Daguerre. These experiences in text helped make a narrative (though I have not seen all of the photographs). I can imagine that the photographs were not outstanding pictures but having experienced how intense scientific research can be, I can imagine visualizing Talbot's struggles with his discovery while going through his photobook (at least the first book). Talbot's photobook feels like a lab notebook with procedures and results. It also acts like a scientific research paper with an introduction, hypothesis/purpose, methods, results and discussion of results. To my mind, it is a narrative. I think the texts helped the photobook by giving it a sense of purpose - an intention. I think the book would have had a different meaning without the text.

Another thing I found interesting was how the museums, libraries and galleries influenced photography and the photobook. Also, how the early photobook helped cause people to go to places the photographers visited.

Lastly, according to the definitions and criteria that the authors of The Photobook: Between the Novel and Film, I could not help but wonder how similar these criteria were to the definition of the American narrative in film - it feels like nothing has been edited, it flows. So my question is are there any "independent" photobooks like there are independent filmmakers? To me, the article sounded like if a certain artist's photobook does not meet the given standards then it is not considered a good work.