Now they say that the book is threatened, to be replaced by e-readers and morphed into multi-media presentations. So, what am I to do? Am I a dinosaur? Am I crippled by nostalgia? Does my wish that the book remain intact and strong take me down the road to irrelevancy? Should I adapt and become more media savvy? Should I blog and create miniature films for Youtube? Should I give up the life I have led, making a living and making sense of my life by books?
One problem I have with e-books is that they are not books. They only look like books. Dictionaries say that the word "book" goes back to the word "beech," the wood first used for writing down ancient runes. A traditionalist like me would say that you need paper or another wood product to have a book.
In our modern way of thinking, we believe we can separate the contents of a book from the material it's written on and bound with. We think of a book as information. But anyone who loves books knows that the book is what you hold in your hand and put on a shelf. A library honours a book and easily turns into a sacred place, somewhere where you can pick and choose a book, be entranced by its leather-bound cover and feel the weight in your hands.
I hope libraries don't become museums for the old technologies of the book. I don't think they have to be. I hope we keep producing books. I think they can co-exist with e-readers because they are not just about information. They're like pianos and antiques and oil paintings - revered, collectable - superseded in some ways by new technologies, but not obliterated. I hope that bookstores will discover how to honour books and continue to sell them. Maybe our pragmatic use of the e-reader, easier to travel with and fun to play with for its media potential, will shift, and soon we'll realize what is so precious about a book. Maybe a book is easier to ensoul than a piece of electronic technology.
