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Electronic books kindle nostalgia for hardcovers

Mirror Staff Writer

Published: Friday, March 5, 2010

Updated: Thursday, March 4, 2010 17:03

It appears that the internet and technology have taken over the world. For those of us who aren't technologically savvy, this is a problem. My biggest battle lately is e-books, and I am afraid this tech-gadget fad is going to ruin the future of reading.

Kindles, Nooks and Sony's Readers are all computer-like tablets that are supposed to be a substitute for traditional books. Amazon advertises that its newest Kindle, the Kindle DX ($489), can hold up to 3,500 books, periodicals and documents and it reads like real paper with its ability to produce 16 different shades of gray. The Kindle can last up to one week on a single-battery charge with wireless, has an auto-rotating screen, can read out loud and offers a selection of 420,000 books to download.

Pretty sweet deal, right?

I'll admit that on paper, e-books sound like heaven for a bookworm. Who doesn't want the convenience of a traveling library? But e-books are proving a problem for the publishing industry, as they are diminishing the marketplace for published works. For those of us who are English majors, that doesn't make the future look too bright.

The selfishness of e-books doesn't stop there, though, as e-books don't allow the reselling or sharing of books. Half the fun of leisure reading is to absorb a great piece of literature and then pass it on to your best friend. The very foundation of libraries is the concept of lending books to strangers. Without traditional books, literature could lose the camaraderie it promotes. I hope that in 20 years Augustana students aren't sitting in classrooms discussing Ulysses with an e-reader on their desks.

My biggest beef with this trend, however, is the romance issue. E-books erase all the romance out of reading. I can't imagine it is the same effect curling up with a crisp, new hardcover book as it is with a cold, computer-like screen. Holding a book, turning the pages and getting lost in a tangible story is what makes reading an experience.
I realize that I might be in the minority, but this trend is one I'm hoping fades quickly.

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1 comments

SxTal
Thu Mar 4 2010 20:25
Nicholle, the inevitable move toward e-books is actually a good thing, I believe. It's not a fad, it's more than a trend, it's reality. But no, I don't agree that e-books will ruin the future of reading. I think they will eventually bring it to parts of the world that could not afford to house the thousands of volumes of books and encyclopedias in the form of a physical library.

Also, I can't figure out for the life of me why you state that e-books are diminishing the marketplace for published works. Can you provide something to back that up, or at the very least to explain the how and why? I have written many times that reading will always be around, we will simply use a different medium in the process. When we moved from reel-to-reel to 8-track to cassette to CD to MP3 (and so on) we didn't stop listening to music. Now we download onto our iPods and carry our favorite music with us everywhere. The accessibility to music has increased immeasurably because of this, making music available in places where they could not otherwise have access to a store that carries the tens of thousands of CDs on their physical shelves. Of course, there are still plenty of stores selling CDs.

In the same way, we may have moved from stone to papyrus to paper and now to e-Ink, but it's only the medium upon which we see the words that has changed, not the content itself. For me at least, the experience of reading does not lie with the physical medium, but with the story itself. The more the paper or e-Ink fades into the background, the more engaged I can become in the story, or biography, or poem. The physical aspect of reading can be a distraction.

I do believe that the manufacturers will have to upgrade (along with publishers and writers) to allow for borrowing and lending books. Personally I don't give out my books to anyone, but I know there are those that do. I treasure my books way too much to loan them out. I've done it the past, never to see my book again. Never again.

And why would you not want to see your fellow students sitting around discussing Ulysses with an e-reader? Is it not the content, the knowledge, the story itself? Many years ago you would not be writing your article on the internet, you would have written it in the school newspaper. You seemed to have embraced this "new" method for your own article, but you also seem to loathe it for another form of writing (and reading.) There are inherent advantages to this, aren't there?

Your final statement, dare I say proclamation, is with the romance factor. I'll tell you, what makes it romantic is what's inside, not the wrapping. I'm not a kid anymore, and I use glasses to read. E-readers with adjustable font sizes are a fantasy come true for me. And for me, I could care less how I get to the next page, as long as I get there to continue reading my book.

Truthfully, I welcome the possibilities that e-books bring. Although I'm now 48, I embrace the technology like a kid with a new toy. I hope others will see the good side of e-books. I don't disagree that some folks will long for the feel of a physical book in their hands, I just hope they don't blind themselves to the good side at the same time.







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