For years now, many have been wondering about the fate of physical books after E-readers made their debut. After the Amazon Kindle came out, people began seeing the possibility of finding new ways to read and help the environment (myself, included). Now, someone may argue that E-readers are decreasing the value of physical books and EVEN literature when their being placed in machines. They might argue that you don’t get the same effect when you don’t have a physical book in your hand. I completely agree with them! However, being a Kindle owner myself, I can argue that it helps the environment by using less paper (sorry I had to go there, but it’s the truth). It’s also less expensive if you’re an avid reader because E-books are cheaper. And honestly, I read more often with my Kindle. How, you may ask? I can read or have MULTIPLE books at a time (something not everyone can do) while commuting and traveling wherever.
Because I’m a fast reader and can read a 600-page book in a couple of days, I love that I can go on vacation and not have to worry about how many books I can take on my trip. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have not completely converted to fully E-book reading; I have a good-sized collection of printed books, but it definitely has changed how much I read. Why am I talking about this? Apparently, many people are feeling the same way about E-readers. There’s a universal idea that E-readers are handy to have and very convenient, but as more and more of them are being commercialized, for example, in the holidays, people are becoming less attracted to buying them and buy physical books instead. Maybe after seeing the second-largest bookstore chain, Borders, go out of business, made people fear the fate of books and made them go back to the “old ways.” What ever happened, I think it’s a smart idea to balance it out. For example, when at home, I prefer to have an actual book in my hand, but when out and and about, I use my E-reader. Here is an article that talks about people are buying actual books for the holidays rather than E-readers this year.
It gives me new hope to hear that sales of actual books are increasing. Many people, myself included, greatly prefer books to E-readers and are growing more and more apprehensive as E-readers become increasingly more popular. I like books with real pages and ink and corners that you can fold down to keep your place and sides that get worn out on your favorite novel because you’ve read it so many times. Turning page, the new-book smell–it’s all part of the reading experience. Reading a good book is so much more than simply processing the words themselves. I cannot imagine curling up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket, a cup of cocoa, and a screen. It’s just so . . .cold and impersonal and not cozy. I think it is similar to music. Just like a recording will never beat a live performance, so to an electronic version will never win over the real deal.
I should hope that books aren’t doomed! Your post actually reminded me about Zachy’s post (http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/smaldone2011/2011/12/14/its-enough/) where he wrote that viewing art through an app on his iPhone was not at all the same thing as viewing art live. I think maybe the same things applies here, at least as far as I am concerned. Reading a book is almost a whole experience for me. I like feeling the pages, cracking open the binding, touching the cover – that is what is inherently charming about a book.
I’ve toyed with the idea of getting an e-reader myself, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I would just be forgoing too much of what I love about the process of reading a book. There is something coldly impersonal about an e-reader – there is nothing about the book you are reading that makes it yours. When I buy an actual book at say, Barnes and Noble, I almost feel like I am staking a claim to it. It becomes my very own, with it’s own special place on my bookshelf. Real books seem to have a personal hold on their readership that e-books just can’t effectively mimic. If there are more people who think like me (and like you), then I don’t think books are doomed at all.
(The environmental issue you raised is a big one, and I guess it might seem a bit selfish to say that I would rather give myself a proper reading experience than care about the environment, but that is essentially what I am saying. Hey, some books use eco-friendly paper…But you’re right – it is an issue, and I don’t think there’s a way around it.)
I beg to differ. I think real books are going down. And it is not a bad thing. Borders was just the first– I won’t be surprised when other big bookstore chains like Barnes and Noble close. By transferring the majority of literature to electronic mediums, this creates an atmosphere in which more stores like the Strand can thrive. The Strand’s success is entirely dependent on the sale of rare books on art, architecture and scholarship. It also creates venues for writers and artists to come and speak about their work, much in the same manner that Macaulay does. Visiting artists in the past have included Jonathan Safran Foer and Jhumpa Lahiri.
I agree with you that physical books will not doom at all. one reason behind it, I think, is that we have been using paper book for several thousands years. We will give up them and use ebook instead. I used to love reading physical book because I love flipping the pages, which make me feel fulfilled. Also, I don’t have the sense of owning the book if I read ebook; it is just made of a bunch of digit or code used in computer or other electronic devices. Similarly, looking at the painting online is different from going to the museum looking at the real piece, which has been pointed out by Zachy. Actual physical books give us more feelings and they have the power to take us into the story that described in the book.
However, as a student of 21st century, I do read ebook. It is so convenient to carry and can be read at any location and time. It is a great tool for us to get information since we are living in a century that is filled with huge amount of information due to the development of technology. I think physical books and ebooks will continue to coexist in our society for the rest of our lives, which is not bad.
Honestly, I don’t understand why people feel attached to books. Maybe it’s because they are just used to them, but an E-book is better in every way. My Mom still hates computers and doesn’t like big HDTV’s–she claims they make her head hurt. While the process started out as gradual, people lost the nostalgia that they had for their old tube TV’s and switched over to the newer non-tube TV’s, then to Flatscreen, then HD, and soon 3D-HD. However, this process has been a fairly gradual one, due to our reluctance, as humans, to change. If the market called for it, we probably could have produced 3D-HD TV’s ten years ago. Everything that is created is funded by commercialism. For example, the Kinect–a device that allows you to play the Xbox 360 without a controller by tracking your bodies movements–was a groundbreaking piece of technology. It took years to develop it, yet most people just know it as “a video game sensor thing”. Because of recreational demand for it, this product was created unbelievably fast. While this generation still has an affinity for books, I feel that the next generation of American’s will not. And once this affinity vanishes, E-books will only be the beginning. Despite how we, as humans, always want to have better technology and opportunities, often when they are placed before us, we are scared to take advantage of them.
(To tie this into art and this class, this is exactly how we do not appreciate modern art when first looking at it, because it is so new. Many people even go so far as to dismiss it as art, without acknowledging that what they define as art is an incredibly old and idiotic definition.)