(above: reading by one-little-thing.)Being an avid reader, I can't help but notice the growing popularity of the e-reader. The Amazon Kindle and Barnes&Noble Nook seem to be taking the reading world by storm. These devices are sleek, chic, portable, and convenient. You can carry your whole library around with you. You can download a book in less than a minute---forgoing shopping or having to order. For the tech-savvy who like to read, these devices are really catching on. And I will admit that they are seductive little pieces of technology.
But I prefer books. For me, nothing compares to a book. I love the anticipation that comes with each physical turn of the page. I love the smell of crisp new ones and of old dusty ones. I love having it opened and my nose literally stuck in it. I love shelves of them, stacks of them, piles of them. I love the feeling of the page between my fingers. Books can be sleek and chic---but they can be so much more than a technological device. They may be brand spanking new or tattered and worn. Books are entirely portable and convenient. I enjoy browsing bookstores. And I like waiting for books I've ordered. (The wait is okay with me because I usually have a book to finish before I can start the one I ordered anyway.)
For me, books are incredibly seductive---more so than a cold piece of technology.
I read somewhere (sorry, I don't remember where or who) that it is predicted that because of the growing surge of e-reading and e-publishing, actual books will become a rare and expensive thing just as they were in the past when books first came out. E-reading and e-publishing are less expensive, more convenient, and save on resources such as paper. I do hope that prediction is wrong.
Whether you prefer physically turning the pages of a real book or enjoy the technological convenience of these e-reader machines, the important thing is that people keep reading. And if it takes an e-reader as opposed to a book to keep people reading, then I'm all about supporting that.
In the meantime, I do enjoy the Kindle commercial.
But I prefer books. For me, nothing compares to a book. I love the anticipation that comes with each physical turn of the page. I love the smell of crisp new ones and of old dusty ones. I love having it opened and my nose literally stuck in it. I love shelves of them, stacks of them, piles of them. I love the feeling of the page between my fingers. Books can be sleek and chic---but they can be so much more than a technological device. They may be brand spanking new or tattered and worn. Books are entirely portable and convenient. I enjoy browsing bookstores. And I like waiting for books I've ordered. (The wait is okay with me because I usually have a book to finish before I can start the one I ordered anyway.)
For me, books are incredibly seductive---more so than a cold piece of technology.
I read somewhere (sorry, I don't remember where or who) that it is predicted that because of the growing surge of e-reading and e-publishing, actual books will become a rare and expensive thing just as they were in the past when books first came out. E-reading and e-publishing are less expensive, more convenient, and save on resources such as paper. I do hope that prediction is wrong.
Whether you prefer physically turning the pages of a real book or enjoy the technological convenience of these e-reader machines, the important thing is that people keep reading. And if it takes an e-reader as opposed to a book to keep people reading, then I'm all about supporting that.
In the meantime, I do enjoy the Kindle commercial.
Amore.
I COMPLETELY agree with you. It's the saddest thing EVER to think that digital books would be the preferred format. That just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Do you know how much knowledge and work we're endangering by trusting technology to store all of that information? That's what I find bothersome. Things get lost in technology all the time. What'll happen 20 years from now? Where is all of this information going? Not just the books, but all of it, you know? Everything we know...it's all being reduced to zeroes and ones. Just data that we can pass along a wire. It's all really sad :/.
ReplyDeleteAlso, congrats my fellow NaNoWriMo 2009 winner :)! Are you doing it this year too?