Since the advent of the e-reader, I've been a fierce opponent. Nothing compares to holding a book; it's weight, it's smell, it's texture. I demonstrate my love for literature by demolishing books. I fold pages, highlight, write myself notes, write "witty" remarks that I hope someone someday sees. And the Kindle? The iPad? The Nook? Where is the new book smell? It's replaced by cold, clean, computer screens. Sure, it's "green," but in this case, I shut out the pleas of the sprouting resident Loraxes and acquire books like an addiction. Sorry, trees.
Materialism and book sniffing aside, the e-readers have always frightened me as an aspiring writer. What does this new technology mean for writers? Is it good or bad? What will happen to bookstores? The only bookstore in my town, an Annie's Book Stop, recently went out of business. I'm devastated. Is this just a prelude of what's to come? Will there be a time when bookstores will be completely extinct?
I received a Kindle for Christmas.
Though I am still terrified for the future of bookstores, though I prefer print above all technological advances, I'm afraid I've been won over. Here's how I am choosing to justify myself: I am not replacing my beloved books. The Kindle is merely allowing me to mobilize my addiction. I can be a nerd everywhere and instantly, download the classics for free (it is unbelievable how many books are free), listen to a book while I'm driving, play electronic Scrabble and read the newspaper on a train. I can even write notes and highlight passages.
I will still buy print books. There are certain authors' work of which I need the physical representation. I don't foresee that ever changing. It's my perhaps naive hope that there are enough people who share my "archaic" need for paper. Hopefully they will be enough to save bookstores (and newspapers for that matter). I'm hoping that the e-reader will remain a supplement to print, rather than render it obsolete. Again, I know it's naive. For the time being, however, I'm enjoying the coexistence of the two.
I received a Kindle for Christmas.
Though I am still terrified for the future of bookstores, though I prefer print above all technological advances, I'm afraid I've been won over. Here's how I am choosing to justify myself: I am not replacing my beloved books. The Kindle is merely allowing me to mobilize my addiction. I can be a nerd everywhere and instantly, download the classics for free (it is unbelievable how many books are free), listen to a book while I'm driving, play electronic Scrabble and read the newspaper on a train. I can even write notes and highlight passages.
I will still buy print books. There are certain authors' work of which I need the physical representation. I don't foresee that ever changing. It's my perhaps naive hope that there are enough people who share my "archaic" need for paper. Hopefully they will be enough to save bookstores (and newspapers for that matter). I'm hoping that the e-reader will remain a supplement to print, rather than render it obsolete. Again, I know it's naive. For the time being, however, I'm enjoying the coexistence of the two.
-Katie Brenzel
I completely agree with you 100%. I bought myself a Barnes and Noble Nook after weighing the pros and cons for months. However, like you I carry the classics around with me, which I also downloaded for free. I also purchased the complete works of Jane Austen for a mere $0.99 courtesy of Barnes and Noble. Even though I love love love a real "live" book, I have to admit I'm glad I bought the Nook!
ReplyDeleteI have a few friends who have been Kindled, and they all really enjoy it. I spent last summer moving, and I must say, as I lugged boxes upon boxes of books, I suddenly stopped and wailed, "WHY didn't I just get a Kindle?" I still don't have one, but there are advantages.
ReplyDeleteI guess I don't worry too much about technology ruining our experiences with books, because I too remember thinking that computers could never replace the experiences we have with actual texts. And they don't--they just supplement it in new ways, many of which are quite good and useful. I like the fact that I can get access to materials online that I couldn't get from a bookstore, ever. I think it will be interesting to see how technology impacts the writing process and the perception of writers themselves over the next decade...
Someday, they will have a Kindle that sprays old-book-scent mist. Yes, I love books. Yes, I love bookstores. But I promise you, words will survive books. I'm going to go out on a limb here and just say it: IT'S OKAY IF BOOKS BECOME EXTINCT. Music did not suffer when cassette tapes became obsolete. Film did not suffer when VHS tapes disappeared. They did not shoot all of the horses when cars showed up. I'm just saying, all of these advances and the steady march towards digital media improved the experience in every way in their respective fields. Isn't it a good thing if normal people have access to all of this literature? I'm uninhibitedly pro- anything that makes books cheaper and more widely accessible to more people. People get caught up in the nostalgia of the "irreplaceable" paper book experience, and are willing to ignore the benefits of digital media. They also balk at the new problems posed by this new media while sentimentally forgetting all the familiar problems associated with print media. I work in a library, and I know exactly what a costly hindrance a print collection can be. Now you're thinking, okay, now this heretic is attacking libraries! But consider this. Paper is an organic fiber with a natural lifespan. No matter how many precautions one takes to keep moisture, improper temperature, and light away from a valuable collection, books will simply start to disintegrate after enough time. Your beloved and well-thumbed collection at home may be in no danger of rotting, but consider a five story library such as our own packed to the walls with hundreds of thousands of pounds of fragile paper. Also, consider how quickly some of these enormous print indexes and periodicals become obsolete and completely worthless. In a time when education budgets are stretched to the breaking point, consider the cost associated with collecting, protecting and maintaining a print collection. Now imagine that the entire collection was purchased digitally, and the enormous budget associated with books was suddenly freed up. Imagine what TCNJ alone could do with that money. While I realize that many bibliophiles will need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the age of digital media, it is coming nonetheless. And in fifty years, everyone will wonder what the fuss was about.
ReplyDeleteBut I cannot read without "writing back" to the author in the margin. To me, reading is a strange sort of conversation, sometimes with the dead.
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