We've all done it: sent an email we wish we hadn't, forwarded a message to someone we didn't intend to, deleted a message by mistake, or otherwise misused (or overused) email.

Two new books offer advice for managing it, and avoiding some of the more common email-related blunders.

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home is co-written by Will Schwalbe, editor in chief of Hyperion Books, and David Shipley, op-ed page editor of The New York Times. It is all about the etiquette and style of emailing other people.

For example, they describe eight reasons why you may not want to email:

1. The ease of email encourages unnecessary exchanges.
2. Email has largely replaced the phone call, but not every phone call should be replaced.
3. You can reach everyone, but everyone can reach you.

Call it Ralph Waldo Emerson meets the digital world.

The announcement last week that Houghton Mifflin Co., one of the nation's oldest and largest book publishers, will be acquired by educational and consumer software producer Riverdeep, Inc. is yet another sign that the future of traditional communications tools is without a doubt electronic and Web-based.

Increasingly, reading will take place on a screen.