The Kindle ... I'd rather have a book - or even 200 of them ...

[cool_moose]

Another month rolls by … as does another year. With my recent once-monthly entries, it would appear that the next time I write something, it will be ‘next year’. So it seems that this is the time to wish all a Merry Christmas (Happy Chanukah, whatever…) and a wonderful and fulfilling 2008. I’ve enjoyed reading some impressive journals this year;

Comments

[colinmarshall]

Kieran had an insightful comment about the Kindle: "I refuse to buy an Amazon Kindle because I don't want to be seen schlepping around something that looks like a piece of medical equipment."

I didn't do a Kindle post, but I did do a Sony Reader post when I bought one for Madelaine. I'd be game for some type of e-book solution -- the stream of press copies that comes to be through the mail collects into large, none-too-convenient, stacks -- but none of the existing technology fires me up. I'll give 'em time.

"The Death of the Book" is the trustiest tool in any lazy journalist's shed. People act as if computers/the internet/e-Readers will deal the death blow to the printed word themselves, without the reading population's cooperation. The only -- only -- way for e-books to displace physical books is, of course, for those who prefer the real deal switch sides of their own volition, and I'm just not seeing it. Real books, the sort that don't require a separate device for human comprehension, are just too convenient; I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before the last press shuts its doors.

Then again, People Who Read, as they call themselves, love feeling embattled, so the dire predictions will continue. The siege mentality of readers -- as if they were encircled by ever-nearing barbarians -- is something I think I'll have to dedicate my life to battling.

(I should add that it is good to see the plain old printed book getting some competition; I can't help but feel the industry has grown complacent and in need of a shakeout.)

[cool_moose]

Well, I might have guessed that you would have beaten me to it. I must have missed it last January, although I never knowingly miss a 'colinmarshall' post. Read on ...

[cobalt999]

Real books, the sort that don't require a separate device for human comprehension, are just too convenient

Importantly, they're convenient where it counts, which is ease of use. The disadvantage of carrying a book rather than an electronic reader is that you're carrying only one book, when you could be carrying a library. But how often does the average reader feel compelled to carry two books? Only sometimes. Three? Almost never.

And this might be my own idiosyncrasy, but I can't pencil in the margin of a pdf file. Add to this all the usual nostalgia and attachment to conventional media, and the book ain't going anywhere soon. Magazines are different story, though I suspect they'll hold on at lower circulation.