And for remembering how ereaders grant access to us gimps who can't hold a regular book for as long as we want to read without paying for that in pain. I escape a lot of the pain by reading, which I couldn't do if I didn't have my ebook reader.
But there's more than one kind of pain, and I used to escape non-physical pain the same way with print books. Thank you for the reminder that they're still vastly important.
I want both mediums to exist, because both mediums have absolute advantages. I wish ebook readers had been around before my Gramma died. She loved to read, and her arthritis made it really hard toward the end.
Exactly. There are disadvantages to each, as well, but depending on each person's situation, one of them will have advantages that outweigh the disadvantages. For me, the ability to read for hours and still have functioning hands for the next two days is a HUGE advantage, but for people who don't have the equipment, it may be that print books are even MORE important as an escape.
Right. I'd also love to see a cheap ereader program for the disabled poor, because they're doubly screwed. Stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide, and unable to read the paper books with comfort.
Words of wisdom, Seanan, words we all need to remember.
I was never at that point that we didn't have enough to eat or heat, but my mum always turned every penny three times before she spent it and she usually spent it on my brother and me. Going to the book store was always an adventure and the library was a second home.
I will do what I can to share your words with as many people as possible and raise awareness!
My mother is a librarian, my father an academic. I was raised in a culture that loves and reveres paper books (to say nothing of sacred scrolls) to a fetishistic level.
I don't think paper is dead. I think paper will endure a long time. I am afraid of paper not being looked on an environmentally friendly anymore and becoming rare, like vinyl records, which still exist and are still able to be played, but are aging with each day.
Acidic paper and bad bindings are only the beginning of the problem. Libraries don't want the source of dust that books create and regularly 'release' the older books. If not all books come out in paper editions anymore, some books will be forever on the other side of the poverty chasm you describe here.
I'm heartened though to see that you're not alone in fighting back, this is somewhat older news, but there have been updates and this song is perhaps a burgeoning anthem for this movement. Thank you to pdcawley for writing it and to vixyish for vectoring the first link.
"Libraries don't want the source of dust that books create and regularly 'release' the older books. "
Dust? Is THAT what it is!? I've been feeling a little PO'd with my library because they've been getting rid of the 'old' books so determinedly that often times you can't borrow the same book (fic or non fic) again a year or two later because its GONE!
*grumbles* And it's not like you can buy them in the library sales either. So where do they go?
I do so love your insights. I always wind up considering an angle that hadn't occurred to me before.
You're absolutely right. Books were SUCH an important part of my young life. If I'd had to pay $150 up-front for a device to read them, though, I wouldn't have had them. My family did not live in poverty, mostly because my mother is a determined and hard-working woman, and was very good at stretching what we had.
I can't think of a lot of steps backwards that would be worse than pricing the less privileged out of being able to read.
Even from a marketing standpoint, it's pure idiocy. If you want to sell more of something, you don't put it out of reach of a quarter (at least) of the population.
Kids who read become adults who read. But a parent choosing between school clothes or a shiny, fragile device the kid isn't terribly interested in? The choice seems pretty easy, from that perspective. That parent doesn't even need to flirt with poverty to make that choice.
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And for remembering how ereaders grant access to us gimps who can't hold a regular book for as long as we want to read without paying for that in pain. I escape a lot of the pain by reading, which I couldn't do if I didn't have my ebook reader.
But there's more than one kind of pain, and I used to escape non-physical pain the same way with print books. Thank you for the reminder that they're still vastly important.
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I was never at that point that we didn't have enough to eat or heat, but my mum always turned every penny three times before she spent it and she usually spent it on my brother and me. Going to the book store was always an adventure and the library was a second home.
I will do what I can to share your words with as many people as possible and raise awareness!
Thank you!
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I don't think paper is dead. I think paper will endure a long time. I am afraid of paper not being looked on an environmentally friendly anymore and becoming rare, like vinyl records, which still exist and are still able to be played, but are aging with each day.
Acidic paper and bad bindings are only the beginning of the problem. Libraries don't want the source of dust that books create and regularly 'release' the older books. If not all books come out in paper editions anymore, some books will be forever on the other side of the poverty chasm you describe here.
I'm heartened though to see that you're not alone in fighting back, this is somewhat older news, but there have been updates and this song is perhaps a burgeoning anthem for this movement. Thank you to pdcawley for writing it and to vixyish for vectoring the first link.
Reply
Reply
Dust? Is THAT what it is!? I've been feeling a little PO'd with my library because they've been getting rid of the 'old' books so determinedly that often times you can't borrow the same book (fic or non fic) again a year or two later because its GONE!
*grumbles* And it's not like you can buy them in the library sales either. So where do they go?
Reply
Reply
You're absolutely right. Books were SUCH an important part of my young life. If I'd had to pay $150 up-front for a device to read them, though, I wouldn't have had them. My family did not live in poverty, mostly because my mother is a determined and hard-working woman, and was very good at stretching what we had.
I can't think of a lot of steps backwards that would be worse than pricing the less privileged out of being able to read.
Reply
Reply
Kids who read become adults who read. But a parent choosing between school clothes or a shiny, fragile device the kid isn't terribly interested in? The choice seems pretty easy, from that perspective. That parent doesn't even need to flirt with poverty to make that choice.
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Thank you Wal*Mart for that wonderful philosophy.
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