the future of reading / the book / etc.
The first time someone suggested that all books would one day be read electronically, I choked. Literally. This was in college, and I worshipped books as physical works of art; the move from paper to screen would surely suck the magic from them. This must be, I thought, a plot by evil corporations to stop us from reading. BUT. While I still enjoy few things more than the smell of a used bookstore or the pleasure of picking up a beautifully designed new release, I'm no longer staggering around, clutching my throat, at the thought of reading on a Kindle or similar device.
Because print production and distribution of newspapers, magazines, and books is -- let's face it -- profoundly wasteful.
And it's the *content and story* of books that matter, much more than the way we access them. I heartily agree with much of this excellent article by Ezra Klein (from the Columbia Journalism Review), which focuses on the benefits of reading off the page -- text search capabilities, flexible font sizes, the boon of a reading community, the potential for interactivity, etc. He also acknowledges its current limitations. I recommend reading the whole thing; it's hardly the first article on this subject, but Klein's is the most well-reasoned and insightful analysis that I've seen.
http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/the_future_of_reading.php?page=all
Note: I do not, by any means, advocate wiping out print publishing altogether. There always should -- and will -- be a place for select print books, ones whose designs are necessary and important in a physically tangible way. (Klein thinks that books written to entertain also fare better in print, at least for now.) And our generation still respects the printed word in a way that goes deep -- as it should.
But we are overprinting now, and horribly. There's a way for electronic and print publishing to co-exist, and the former can help improve the quality of the latter while decreasing our carbon footprint. Yes, it takes resources to make a Kindle, but not as many as it takes to produce even the print newspapers and magazines some people throw away in a single day. Yes, it costs money to buy one...but not so much as half the cost of a single semester's college textbooks, which - if bought on some kind of electronic reader - could be offered cheaply (and cost publishers much less to produce). Everyone wins.
Because print production and distribution of newspapers, magazines, and books is -- let's face it -- profoundly wasteful.
And it's the *content and story* of books that matter, much more than the way we access them. I heartily agree with much of this excellent article by Ezra Klein (from the Columbia Journalism Review), which focuses on the benefits of reading off the page -- text search capabilities, flexible font sizes, the boon of a reading community, the potential for interactivity, etc. He also acknowledges its current limitations. I recommend reading the whole thing; it's hardly the first article on this subject, but Klein's is the most well-reasoned and insightful analysis that I've seen.
http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/the_future_of_reading.php?page=all
Note: I do not, by any means, advocate wiping out print publishing altogether. There always should -- and will -- be a place for select print books, ones whose designs are necessary and important in a physically tangible way. (Klein thinks that books written to entertain also fare better in print, at least for now.) And our generation still respects the printed word in a way that goes deep -- as it should.
But we are overprinting now, and horribly. There's a way for electronic and print publishing to co-exist, and the former can help improve the quality of the latter while decreasing our carbon footprint. Yes, it takes resources to make a Kindle, but not as many as it takes to produce even the print newspapers and magazines some people throw away in a single day. Yes, it costs money to buy one...but not so much as half the cost of a single semester's college textbooks, which - if bought on some kind of electronic reader - could be offered cheaply (and cost publishers much less to produce). Everyone wins.