I spent today trying to catch up my electronic nightmare called life. I have old emails, stuff to Read Later on Instapaper, and pages of links that I need to review. On the other hand, this past weekend I had an orgy of reading. Real books. For hours I sat and read. Ah, pure enjoyment. Now hold on, that's not to say that eBooks aren't real. We do own a Kindle and I have quite a few photography books in PDF format on my laptop. (I don't own an iPad. Yet.) I do love the feel of turning paper pages in a book. The satisfying thump when closing a good book you just finished. I/we have more physical books in our home than some libraries do. In fact, when we were living in an apartment before this house there were some questions of structural integrity, but I digress.
So, what sparked this post? In catching up on my on-line reading I came across an article in the New York Times, "The Bookstore's Last Stand." It talks about Barnes & Noble, the last great bookstore chain. The article discussed about B&N's entry into the eBook realm and how bad it would be for publishers if they failed. Actually, they went further, to say that,
“Anybody who is an author, a publisher, or makes their living from distributing intellectual property in book form is badly hurt,” he said, “if Barnes & Noble does not prosper.”Some authors and publishers have embraced the notion of eBooks. Authors that may never have been able to get published are becoming very successful publishing as eBooks. Not all authors want to go to the trouble of editing or laying out a publication. So, this is definitely a nitch that publishers are already good at. In fact, I suspect that there will be more of a demand for their services. It seems that some publishers are reluctant to enter the electronic realm. I wonder, though, is there a way to replicate the browsing process of the bookstore or library? Is there a method to discover new books simply by serendipity? Amazon's process for recommending books algorithmically works sometimes, but I find my own method to be too variable for them.
Will physical books go away? I originally wrote the word: never, but there's no certainty in this world. I believe that there will always be a market for books. Used books, vanity publishing, and coffee table books. (Hooray for The Strand and Powell's books.) I will never willingly give up my hard covered and paperback books until they crumble. (Which, I am said to say, some of them are yellowing.) I will continue to enjoy looking through my bookshelves for something to read. Lately, I find myself not purchasing as many books as I used to. The library is getting more of my business and stick to my favorite authors for hardcover books.
I still spend more time writing notes into various notebooks. It's hard to give up a lifetime of pens and paper. I guess I will spend more time reading books than eBooks, though that may change. Sorry, I think I rambled a bit on this post.
