Having spent time perusing Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, random ebook samplings I chose from NetLibrary, I have the same opinion I've had before: when it comes to recreational reading, electronic books just aren't my thing. I love my computer, reading articles and blogs online, and keeping up with new technologies, but I just can't get excited over reading a novel in my office chair, or lounging with a PDA.
Figuring my reluctance was more based on age than anything else, I asked my sixteen-year-old if she could see her future self reading electronic bedtime books to her children. I was surprised when she said no, simply because half the time she could be mistaken for a computer. It could very well be that she will be downloading books and reading them from a touch-screen built into the wall above her child's bed, but as of now, she's not excited about the prospect.
Thinking back a few lessons, I can see a beta is forever approach being key in this area. A slow, steady introduction of electronic formats will result in greater acceptance. But declaring the death of the traditional book today simply doesn't make sense to me, and the crowds at Barnes & Noble would seem to back this up. More engaging formats will be necessary to win me over, but I'm certainly willing to try.
1 comment:
The discussion about ebooks being the future has been going on for about 10 years. I think the thing the "experts" forget when they predict the end of the paper book is despite the ease and/or convenience of a digital book, nothing beats hold a real one. They forget that people are humans and there are some things we hold on to for their emotional value and they way they make us feel. Books could very well be one of those things. After all we're at the point where if we wanted to get our daily nutritional requirements from easy fast and well tasteless food we could and we choose not too. We choose something that has a feel good quality to it. It triggers something within our brains in addition to satisfying our hunger. I think books are that same way, there is more to reading them than acquiring information.
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