"The printed book is about to vanish at extraordinary speed..." -Simon Winchester
{See the rest of the quote here}
"Oh, puleaze. Give me a break." -Me
"I don't believe in [e-readers]. They don't smell. A book has got smell. A new book smells great. An old book smells even better. An old book smells like ancient Egypt." -Ray Bradbury Thank you, sir. I hate the idea of reading a book on a screen. Ew. Give me a pile of new or dusty books any day. Paperback or hardback, it doesn't matter. Anything besides a piece of plastic with words on it. I hope there are enough of us in the world with some common sense who will never let real books go extinct. I'll cling to mine even if nobody else does. :) This is not like VHS tapes giving way to DVDs. We're talking books here. Books have been around for thousands of years.
That is all. Now I'm off to do some math homework. *gag*
Until next time,
I agree! For better or worse, books should have real pages and books should have a smell, so that each time you re-read it, you get taken back in time to the first day you read it.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, there might just be a photo of me in the dictionary next to the definition of bibliophile, but I think e-readers have their place. I, too, have a large, lovely book filled library and it brings me great pleasure to pull one of my old or new "friends" from the shelf to read.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I bit the bullet and purchased a Barnes & Noble Nook last summer and I'm glad I did. Is it perfect? No. Do I want to replace all my books with it? No. BUT, it really is a splendid travel tool. I took it on our trip out west for two weeks and only brought a fraction of the books I would have normally dragged along. In a cozy (read: small) RV with a family of five that is a good thing.
Also, I love the old classics and you can purchase them for little to nothing on an e-reader or even get them for free. Today is a perfect example. I read a glowing review of "Rutherford's Letters" edited by Andrew Bonar in "50 People Every Christian Should Know" and was interested in buying it. It cost over $30.00 on Amazon but I got it for free on Barnes & Noble's e-reader site. I downloaded it right there and without having to wait for it to arrive or travel anywhere, I have this "new" (it's very old) book to read and it didn't cost me a dime! Wow! That's pretty neat!
I must confess, I am a sucker for used books from the library book sales (brought two home just yesterday...) and I, too, love browsing in a bookstore, lifting the tomes, smelling the pages and being surrounded by the written word on paper. However, I think there's room for both!
I agree! Give a book to hold and smell any day!
ReplyDelete